Zombie Apocalypse
by Lucy Watson
Summary: That awful year of 2035 where Katniss' life has turned upside down. Now since she has lost her last hope Peeta Mellark. Making her blood and heart go cold, she has to cope with slaying zombies and killing everything in her sight; sending people on dangerous missions. Until that one day 2 years later a special person returns when thought to be dead years ago... Building hope again.
1. Fine Day

**Authors Note** **\- Hello, I guess my summary intrigued you to come and read my story! So this is my first story and I would appreciate all support, comments and critism since it would help me develop more skills in my writing. So feel free to give me ideas of what I can add to the story. And this is just the beginning... Alright enough with that... hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer** **\- I do not own any of the hunger games characters or story, all of the credit goes to Suzanne Collins.**

I travelled up slowly pounding my feet across the rusty, old, broken so called staircase. Searching to my right I find a brown railing, which has been there since as far as my mind can remember. Sighing I grabbed it with my fingertips and slogged further up the stairs, only to win me a screech from the case.

"Couldn't they just build a new one for Christ Sakes, or is that too much to ask?" I grumbled to myself, so only the tips of my eardrums could hear.

"Katniss, what are you grousing about again?"

I guess not, I swear she has my mom's hearing abilities. Literally I could be miles down in the woods and she'd catch every word I say.

Turning swiftly round in my tracks; looking down, my grey eyes scan her gentle, innocent face only to connect with her mirthful blue eyes peering up at me.

"Prim, it's nothing, I was just wondering about if they ever reinvigorate the staircase that's all" I say blowing hair out of my face and repositioning the strands behind my left ear with my three fingers.

My sister Prim and I were a lot different, but in a good way of course, we just didn't have the facial features and the personality, in fact we were so different that you wouldn't think we were sisters at all. You see, I am more like my father, strong, brave and independent. Whereas Prim on the other hand is more of a kind, loving and a very social able person. She has got long, thick blond hair just like the daffodils that are ready to bloom in the start of spring, bright blue merry eyes just like her mother when she used to see my father coming through the door with a bunch of flowers packed in his hands. She has very light skin with a couple of freckles complimenting her skin, she is very pretty indeed; she's also a natural healer, she went and studied in a private school to show of her talent and somehow ending up in this place, she's only fourteen. I however I'm eighteen, with long dark black hair usually braided in its natural form, dangling indolently down on my right shoulder, olive skin and stone coloured grey eyes like my father had.

My father was my only hope for the future, he was the one who taught me how to swim, Use a bow and arrow, and found any kind of survival skills he could muster up from his own experience. But then he got into a car crash and passed away around seven years ago. I was only eleven and Prim was seven. From then on my mother found it hard to socialize to people since her love for my father was so strong she couldn't cope, eventually she moved into a different state along with little Prim, so I rarely get to see any of them unless you count once in a month, or school only sometimes though. I'll never forgive her for leaving me here when I needed her the most.

That's why I don't trust anyone anymore or socialize since I've never been good at any of it anyway. But most of all I despise love, all it does is tears you apart leaving nasty scars that will never heal up properly. I do not want to end up like my mother, full of sorrow and guilt, but for what? I will never answer that question.

Clearing my thoughts I proceed on the last step, glancing to my right only to find a hand written number four plastered on the jagged wall, soon enough realizing that I have another set of stairs to glide up on, to get to my class.

"Great, one more stair case for me", I mutter under my breath, settling the strap of my bag further up my shoulder, to release the pain it caused by piercing into my skin, making a bright pink colour to thee eye.

"Why do you always whine like that? Because I sincerely don't get it?" Prim asks as she sets her small foot on the last stair case, to where I was standing.

My lips rose up slowly forming into a small smile, patting the top of her blonde hair "It doesn't matter little duck, I'll tell you when we get home okay?" I say folding in her hanging t-shirt, "Now go to class or you're going to be late".

She smiles up at me, then turns to the right and starts walking into her classroom, waving goodbye she shouts " I love you, bye!" and closes the door behind her.

Waiting for the click of the door I smile and murmur to myself "love you to Prim", my smile suddenly drops and forms into a hideous scowl, when I spin round and find that I have to walk up another set of stairs. Dreading the awful moment I began placing my right foot on the case grabbing the metal railing once again that looks as if it's going to shatter any moment. Step by step I finally made it on the fifth floor.

Sighing in relief, I started for the old wooden door that had a label tagged on it '501', flickering my hair outa my eyes once again I grabbed the rusty door knob and twisted it to my right, once again earning my a great squeak, wincing at the sound I snapped it open.

"Stupid door" I mumble to myself while closing it and waiting for that click to arrive. Turning round I began to scan the class, on the front right was Mr. Abernathy's desk, on the front left was another door, flickering my eyes to the middle I see the students that I am going to have stick with for an hour. Groaning with dissatisfaction, I step forward to find a rotten table with coffee mark stains, old tests that haven't yet been marked and a couple of pens and pencils scattered everywhere. Irritated by the appearance of so much mess my eyes peer over towards the right only to find bright ocean blue eyes gawking right at me.

Peeta Mellark, Jesus I had a real distaste towards him, he had bright, beaming, ocean blue eyes which stare down right into your soul, and as much as I hate to admit it I even sometimes get lost in them, which made me abhor myself even more. Dazzling blonde curly hair which dangled loosely in front of his forehead, lighter shade of skin than me and a very pronounced, masculine, strong jawline. Peeta worked as a baker down at the Mellarks bakery and since he picks up a hundred pound sack of flour every day, he is pretty broad for his age, not that I look at him anyway.

But the main issue I had with him was that he was always gazing at me as if I was the glue and he was stuck to me, he always smiles and I mean ALWAYS, I really feel sorry for his lips sometimes because he stretches them so much, and waves to me. Also as if not enough he hangs out with the popular kids, thus meaning that they annoy me. But overall he just always laughs at me and repeatedly asks if I need help. He just doesn't get that I can be responsible for myself, and I don't need a baby sitter either.

I quickly swipe my gaze down from his eyes and begin walking forwards towards the assigned seat next to him ' obviously it had to be next to him' grunting in my thoughts I drop my bag of my shoulders and reach my left arm towards the seat, grabbing it with my fingers I slide it back and bend down to sit on it. Groaning even more I push my body and chair forward towards the table, finally finishing in doing that I bend even further down to my right and open my bag to retrieve my books.

Slapping them down on the table, earning me a loud thump and a couple of dirty looks which I return by throwing both of my hands in the air "what?" I exclaim giving them the biggest indigent scowl I could muster up, making them drop their gaze back to Mrs. Trinket that's talking about pollution and what it is like to live in Antarctica.

I feel a slight poke at my elbow, turning my head towards Peeta, "what do you want?" I whisper towards him irritated by his sudden movement.

"Someone's having a bad day today, relax we will be out of here in no time" Peeta smiles brightly again while staring at the clock and then back at me again.

"Bad day? I don't seem to know what you're talking 'bout." I say quite bothered by his sudden complaint.

"You cannot lie to save your life, Katniss" he says proud of himself, turning his attention to our class.

'Who is he calling a liar' I think to myself, obviously offended by his statement.

"Who are you calling a liar Mellark?" I raise my voice just above the teachers.

He throws his hands up in the air as if to surrender. He is about to speak, when he gets interrupted by Mr. Abernathy and Mrs. Trinket.

"What are you two talking about, Katniss why did you raise your voice over mine?!" Mr. Abernathy speaks annoyed by the situation, watching my every move.

"It's not like you care anyways" I mutter under my breath, hearing Peeta chuckle a little bit, making my lips rise up slightly.

"What was that, what did you say?" Mr. Abernathy questions me, rising from his seat to stand next to the board.

Sliding my eyes slowly to Peeta's, taking in all his features, I see him slowly nodding his head left to right as if trying to tell me that I shouldn't speak out what I said. But why should I care any way.

"I said, why should you care anyways, all you do is sit on that darn old chair of yours shoving donuts in your mouth while little Trinket here does all the work" the classroom suddenly goes so quiet I literally could hear Peeta's heartbeat from where he is sat, ohh crap I said it didn't I, hey at least I gave him a piece of my mind. I see his eyes flare up as he stares at me, then they loosen in his drunken state.

"Ohh Don't get so riled up about this sweetheart, it's just class. Sit here so I can keep an eye on you, ohm and I will see you at my office for a detention!" He sarcastically shouts and points towards the empty table right in front of his desk.

Rolling my eyes and sighing in anger, I slap both of my hands on to the rough surface of the table; earning me a loud squeaky "That is Mahogany!" from dear Mrs. Trinket. Rolling my eyes again I bend down to grab my bag, only to pause when I hear another soft chuckle from Peeta. Shaking my head I began lazily walking to my now assigned seat; dropping my bags on the floor I slump into the seat and turn my head backwards to find Peeta staring at me, he quickly gazes down and stares at his fingers turning beet red. 'What the hell is his problem?" I wonder to myself, turning round again to find Mr. Abernathy staring at me ' oh great what now' I think to myself.

"Now that this childish behaviour has stopped, I will let Mrs. Trinket proceed-" he gets interrupted by a loud blast that has soon shook the whole building causing some students to lose their balance and illuminate the entire room so brightly that it began burning my irises, covering my eyes with my bare hands I drop down to the floor hitting the tops of my knees which would probably end up into big bruises, and hiding underneath the table. I started to hear loud shrieking screams and cries that sound as if all the vocal cords are being torn apart from each other that blew my eardrums.

It was unearthly, and I swear it all came from just outside that serrated window of ours…


	2. Looking For Her

**Authors Note: I sincerely apologize about not uploading for so long and as much as the exams of mine came up that is no excuse for not writing so long. But since the summer holidays came up I'll be gladly writing this story more because I fell intrigued to write it since I read it and I seem to be enjoying this writing. Thank you to the people that have given me suggestions, I'll try and keep them in mind. My original idea for this story is to be closely related to the books, so keeping the same characters and maybe just maybe their fates, but since this is fan fiction that might change. But thank you once again and I will hopefully post every Tuesday. Hope you enjoy this chapter 2**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Hunger Games character or book, all the credit goes to Suzanne Collins.**

As the screams outside become more painfully close to our school. My irises slowly start adjusting to the now dark room filled with debris and dust, I slowly scramble out from underneath the beat up table and kick out some of the books that had fallen of Mr Abernathy's desk. Standing straight squinting my eyes I scan the room, quickly landing on another set of blue worried ones. Full of concern he stares right back at me, scrunching his forehead with apprehension.

Quickly ripping my eyes from his, I gaze to the right and see the broken beat up window, which surely could use some fresh paint. Curiosity hits me and I launch myself at the wooden frame, hitting a chair on my way I peer down through it.

Oh how much of a mistake that was, I watch as some people are running towards the East, but it wasn't a normal kind of run you'd expect to see when people race. It looks more desperate, desperation filled with agony to get away from something that is trying to kill you. I anxiously glance to my left to see what these people are running from.

People…?

' _People? Why would they be running away from their own kind_?' I thought to myself.

But then I look closer. Their movement was odd they were staggering and jerking their arms about, their skin looking painfully ill as if it is decomposing every time they move, with huge gashes across their features, they kept coughing up blood, but that didn't bother them as they sprinted straight towards the humans, like a predator does towards its prey.

I lean forward a little more, until one of them stops and looks directly at me as if knowing that I was there, with half his ear missing and part of his bottom lip chewed of, he bore his demonic feverish eyes right into my own, and gave out an agonising scream.

Breathing heavily I looked away hastily, and hid behind the wall.

"What the fu-" I get interrupted by something grabbing my hand. Trailing my eyes up.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? What the hell is happening?" Peeta asks uneasily, as he keeps his piercing oceanic eyes on me. Pulling away from his grasp, my brow creasing by the second.

I give him a firm nod.

"I'm fine, I don't know what is going on, did you see the abnormal creature look-a-like humans outside, what the hell are they doing; what do they want from us?!" I shout towards him.

His face suddenly turns as pale as a tombstone, which sends shivers down my spine, he scrunches his face and gives the biggest look of concern.

Mirroring his own I feel the ground beneath me shake more, I stumble and hold on to the wall as some of the other students fall for the second time.

Then it hits me.

Prim.

Re- gaining my balance I push myself of the wall and head for the door in a more frantic state. Jumping over a couple of books and legs I finally make it to the old thing. Millions upon millions of thoughts rush through my mind. (' _Is she okay? ', 'Where is she now?', 'What if she got stuck under some of the ceiling that fell?'_ ). I quickly shake them thoughts away.

Grabbing the rusty old door knob I twist it to the right, when I get stopped again by a hand on my shoulder.

"Where are you going?" the all too familiar voice asks.

"For my sister, now leave me alone, I got to go and get her" I say with a more stern voice as I turn around to meet his solicitous face.

"I am going with you"

Before I could decline, he turns around and heads up the aisle of chairs back to retrieve some type of walking stick from the table close to his. Then he pivots and walks right past me in a more nervous manner and opens the door slowly earing that familiar squeak of dissatisfaction, he slowly walks through it.

"Why?'' I whisper towards him.

Stopping in his tracks he turns and just shrugs stiffly and replies "because, I got someone to look for too, and there's no way I'm letting you go… by yourself"

Raising my finger towards the walking stick in a questioning manner, he tightly follows it and looks down "safety precaution".

With that he makes his way towards the stair case.

I raise my eyebrow at him, even though he can't see, "right?..."

We get down the staircase about half way when we both come to a halt, we hear banging and gurgling further down, coming closer and closer every second.

Until we see it in front of us, my heart suddenly drops to my stomach the smell of overripe fruitgunk mixed with skunk attacking our nostrils, his sinister eyes meet mine again with the bottom of his lip looking like it's been mangled on by dogs, he twitches and stammers his hands towards me, inches from me.

It happens like a blur, so fast I couldn't even process what was happening, all I saw was how the creature- man suddenly flew over the railing and plundered into the floors beneath us, earning a huge ' _splat_ '.

Looking to my right I see Peeta breathing in hard as he holds his walking stick in a defensive position, anger and solidity wiping his gaze.

''Did you...kill it?'' I stammer out shock flushing inside of me, as I walk closer to the railing to look down and see the leftover of 'it'.

"I- I don't…I don't know" Peeta stutters as he sits down and takes sharp breaths, his face creasing into a painful looking frown. He holds the walking stick closer to his body printing some of the blood that had splattered on it onto himself.

frowning myself I manage to utter a small ''thanks'' towards him and he just waves it off and points to that walking stick of his, ' _safety precautions'_ I repeated in my head.

I was never good at projecting my feelings to other people, but what Peeta had done had just saved my life and even if that 'thanks' didn't bother him much, I surely truly meant it, and I knew that I owe him big time.

As I wipe the whole scenery I had just witnessed out of my mind, I bend down and slowly lace my shaking fingers around Peeta's arm; lightly tugging on it.

"We have got to go Peeta it's not safe here, come on" I say in a stern voice.

He looks up at me from his position and locks those beautiful blue eyes with my coal ones again, earning me another shiver up my spine, ' _he looks so fragile right now'_ I thought to myself.

"Okay" he says mildly and rises from the cold old stair case and walks behind me.

Clearing the streaks of sweat with my sleeve my feet drag me to the 4th floor, more screams fill my eardrums as the floor underneath me have the remaining people getting out.

I see the ageing door a few inches away from me reading 403, I go to grab the metal rusty handle and push the door open with all the force I had left. As my right foot passes the lining of the doorframe, I get dragged backward with full force.

"What the hell!" I shout, furious.

"You don't know what's in there let me go in" Peeta says in a very serious tone.

"Who the fuck do you think you are huh!? I am not some type of toddler that needs to be taken care of you know? I know how to handle myself pretty well asshole! Now get outta my way!" I shove past him with as much force as I possible could muster up.

But obviously he stops me by placing both of his hand on my shoulders.

"Look I know that, but if something happens to you I don't think I would-"He stutters for a second but then regains his voice.

I scrunch my eyebrows further.

"Look I am the one who took wrestling classes here okay? I get it she's your sister and all but you have to understand and trust me on this okay? Just let me go and see, and wait here!" he whispers back with the same tone.

More fury boil inside me, "are you implying that I am not strong enough to handle those things!" I start waving my hands about.

I hear him sign loudly.

"no of course not I've seen you whoop more asses that anyone in this school…just please let me see okay, just wait here I'll go and find her, here have this" he passes the walking stick to me and heads into the classroom, leaving just the click of the door behind him.

'What a stubborn ass' I thought to myself.

I let out a frustrated growl and slide down the wall, hope and fear flushing my body at once as I wait impatiently for Peeta to come back with Prim. As I wait I hear more disturbing screams outside of this building and I can only hope for the worse. My stomach clenching harder and harder every time I hear something abnormal.

It's been more than 10 minutes now and I still haven't heard a sound from Peeta, sickening distress and panic starts to ride over me when I heard a gentle sound of foot steps behind the door.

My eyes flutter up as the door sluggishly creaks open, hope starts to fill my body when I see Peeta but when I look up at his face, something about it doesn't seem right.

And the hope that had once gushed into my body had now been wrecked and ran over by a bus when he painfully utters out those 3 single words.

"She's not here"…


	3. Is It The End?

**Authors note:** **Thank You all for the wonderful reviews and comments, it shows me that you guys like this reading this story and it makes me want to carry on writing it. I really liked writing this chapter which took me a lot of long nights, but that was okay because I had Harry Potter soundtracks playing through my headphones all that time** **. But anyway enough of that I hope you enjoy this chapter, and again thank you, it helps a lot.**

 **Disclaimer** **– I do not own any of the hunger games characters or story, all of the credit goes to Suzanne Collins.**

Fear. It shot through my body all the way from the tips of my toes, meandering through my veins and straight into my brain. As I try to process in my head what he just said ' _she's not here'_ I repeat in my head.

' _She's not here'_ I repeat again.

Then it really hits me and comes in like a brick wall ' _what, why; where could she be!?_ ' I scream in my head.

I couldn't breathe, it was as if somebody had wrapped their fingers tightly around my neck and compressed them with abnormal strength. My muscles stiffened beneath me so I couldn't move, my blood stopping like cold ice, making my heart halt from its pumping. I was completely paralyzed.

I stare at him, my vision blurred and purely unfocused, my left brow twitching every second moving bits of my hairs with it. My mouth partly opened raising my cheeks a little, I feel a drop of warmth run down my cheek, which awakens me from my frozen state.

I jolt my head away from him and lift my sleeve with my fingers and wipe it of swiftly, _'I will not cry in front of him'_ I thought to myself.

"Hey are you okay?" I hear a voice ask filled with pure concern.

Fighting my now new panicking and angry mood, I slowly turn my head to the right and target my eyes up, his eyes meet mine filled with sorrow and something that I don't quite recognize. My blood starts to boil again deep within my core, and just before I decide to open my mouth, I fight those feelings away because starting a fight would not help in this situation.

So I decide to calm myself "okay?" I ask him in incredulity.

His eyes suddenly turn from sorrow to apologetic, he's about to open his mouth when I interrupt him.

"My sister is missing in this sort of post-apocalyptic world and you ask me if I'm okay? She could be hurt right now, terrified to the bones, and you ask if I'm okay?" repeating myself I give him the biggest scowl I could muster up just like in class.

"I'm sorry I didn't-"he speaks with panic.

"Did you check correctly are you sure?" I interrupt him again with more desperation.

"Yes I did, there's no one in there I promise" he tells me in a very serious tone.

My eyes get blurry again, and I feel lightheaded, _'but how is she gone, that fast?_ ' I think again.

Stepping back earning me a few 'clanks', I grab hold of the old railing, and bring my right hand up to my head, "she couldn't have gone far" I whisper to myself. Feeling a sudden rush of anxiousness, I look up again at Peeta; he just stands there nervously, with one hand placed stiffly inside his pocket while the other one behind his head. He gazes down at me.

Not being good at holding eye contact I look away, ' _I need to think about Prim'_ I set my poker face on.

"Katniss were going to have to go, are you sure you're fine over overall though" he asks.

' _Is he seriou_ s?' I look directly into his blue eyes and settle on a milder response "I'm fine" I say faintly but sternly.

I got Prim to worry about now.

He looks taken back by my response, as I turn around in my spot and trek forward only to reach another pair of stairs. Slowly my shoes hit the stairs causing dull 'clang' sounds, my fingers lightly tracing the railing, bumping into uneven surfaces of it, I continue downward in my own suffocating darkness.

We manage to reach the bottom of the stair case without any complications, like last time. I look left and right trying to see some signs of life, or any types of sounds at all.

Silence.

' _That's odd'_ I think to myself, shouldn't there be people around here still, they all probably fled down the other staircase that is placed on the west side of this building. As I bounce back into focus I step forward, and slowly head down the next staircase.

"Wait!" Peeta cries.

Sighing in my place I turn my head to the left and follow my eyes up "what?" I ask.

"Remember when I said that I have someone to look for to?" he says in a mild tone.

I nod for him to carry on.

"Well there's this little girl called rue and I wanted to see if she may still be here?" He explains.

I look at him and nod further, after all he did save my life and he did wait for me when I wanted to check on prim.

He starts for the right and I follow through. For as long as I had been going to this school I never really noticed this floor, but as I walk I focus on how the walls are painted in this very light pink which looks really worn out, the doors look like they survived world war two and the floor doesn't look very clean with rubbish and old sandwich bags scattered around the corner. I have to admit the top floors look a lot better than this.

As I carry on following him the deadly silence eating away at me, he suddenly stops in front of a chipped wooden door, which I cannot read the number of.

"Here" he says.

"Umm okay?" I say

He tenses a little and his hand rises to the back of his head again to scratch it a little, ' _nervous habit'_ I thought.

He regains his posture and grabs hold of the handle, and twists it slowly to the right earing a very pleasant squeak which forces my eyes to shut and forehead to scrunch. He pushes it forward and steps inside. I trail behind him and I am hit with a more deafening silence.

He looks over his shoulder and frowns, "what are you doing?"

I look up at him and scowl, "I am not a damn kid I want to help and I defiantly do not want to stay out there again" I point towards the corridor behind us.

His frown turns into a deeper one in seconds and before he can speak I interrupt him.

"Just let me in geez" I say as I slide past him.

I look inside the square room, in front there are four rows of tables; a board at the front directly in the middle with a desk placed on the left which could definitely use a wash. I gaze to my left and there are all sorts of papers plastered on the walls filled with assignments and pictures about what these kids must have had been learning about, some of them ripped in the middle and edges suggesting how much panic must've been going on in this room when the explosion occurred. I look further to the right and there is just a plain white colour on the wall with graffiti marks and holes inside it, with a window letting in some light in the furthest corner from me.

I suddenly jump at the sound of Peeta's voice roaring though the room.

"Rue! Where are you come out it's me Peet" he shouts.

I turn to listen and there's nothing but silence, I scowl deeply.

My eyes fly to the left, only to meet Peeta's frowning face. He looks at me and his bottom lip trembles into a pout. Then he walks forward and looks underneath tables, still calling for this 'Rue' girl.

"Hey Peeta how does Rue look like anyway?" I ask him, as I look at his back.

He freezes in place and his right hand moves down into his pocket. A second passes and he pulls out an old brown worn out wallet, he opens it and takes something out. Pivoting in one place he faces me and walks closer sticking his hand out gripping a pieces of paper.

I take it and flip it over. There are three people standing with their arms around each other in front of the all known Mellarks bakery covered in flour. On the left I see Mr Mellark who I trade squirrels with on occasions. Then on the right I see Peeta who looks like the spitting image of his father but without the facial hair, a little less stocky and a lighter shade of blonde.

I get interrupted by a finger pointing down to the little girl between the two Mellark's. She has the biggest; whitest smile I have ever seen, her hair is as black as coal fixed up in an afro, her eyes are so dark that if feels like I am staring into two black hole's, her skin is a darker shade of brown that really compliments her eyes. She stands there hugging both of the tall men beside her, with flour coating her from head to toe, she looks cute; overjoyed, and most importantly she looks happy.

"Is that?" I point to the girl and look up.

"Rue" he smiles at the picture.

"How do you know her?" I ask him, out of curiosity.

His eyes light up suddenly.

"I take care of her mostly and she helps me out with the bakery in the weekends because her parents are out the house mostly, but she loves talking and hanging around with people, she's a real kind heart, but the bravest you'll ever see" he smiles widely as he talks about her.

"That was the 9th of May, our known flour fight date which our dad lets us have, and Rue came by that day so she got attacked quite a bit" He grins at the picture.

The sides of my lip rise as I can tell that this girl has clearly found a spot in Peeta's heart, I think about Prim and how these two could get along with each other.

"But yeah, that's little Rue for you" he smiles a little more, but then it fades as he turns and carries on searching for her.

I nod and carry on searching behind doors, storage rooms, tables, and desks for a couple of minutes until I come to the gloomy conclusion that she must've ran out to. I look behind me and see that Peeta is crouching and holding a blue backpack in his hand.

I come over to his side and look over his shoulder.

"It's her backpack, they must've rushed them out so fast that she couldn't even get her belongings" He says rather contemplatively, as he stares at it.

"Peeta she's not here we should go before something happens again" I say as I stare at his back again.

I carry on staring as his muscles flex through his shirt when he rises. He swings the back pack over his shoulders and heads to the door. Grabbing the knob he slowly twists it to the right and walks through it.

As we go through the next few floors downwards, I get more and more anxious and worried for Prim.

We reach the bottom floor after about 10 minutes. I sign when I still hear nobody and start walking forward down the long corridor earning soft 'clunks' as I walk, with Peeta trailing behind me.

As I reach the right side of the wall that has the exit doors right behind it, I get pulled back by my waist and pushed into the wall.

"What the –"I screech.

His left hand flies over my lips to stop me from talking. Goosebumps form on my arms from his cold touch and my forehead scrunches and I give him the biggest death glare with a hint of confusion.

His eyes show utter horror and panic, as he looks over the wall and back at me, his other hand moves up and his pointing finger flies over his lips showing me that I have to be completely quiet.

I slap his hand from my mouth and scowl.

"What the hell are you doing?" I say in annoyance.

"Shhh" he whispers as his face shows more signs of horror.

He grabs my shoulders and slides me down the wall with him so that I am sat directly in front of him as he crouches.

"What are you doing?" I say in a quieter voice, demanding an answer.

He looks around a little more and peers from the wall again, rolling my eyes with annoyance I punch him in the arm to grab his attention, he yelps a little and looks at me with hurtful eyes.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on for the fiftieth time or I'm going to have to punch you again?" I say irritated.

"I'm sorry, I err remember that weird looking man we saw before" he says distressed as he rubs his arm.

I nod for him to carry on.

"Well ermm around this wall there are six of them walking lifelessly around in front of the reception" he says

Wide eyed I turn my head to look over the wall, and see six abnormal looking humans, coughing up blood and even attacking each other in a very aggressive manner, ' _how the hell did they get in?_ ' I think to myself.

"Can't we just run past them or something" I state.

His face grows into more shock than before.

"What?" I ask, uncomfortable by his new facial features.

"We. Cant" he stutters.

"Why not?" I push.

"You see when I dragged your attention from the window in class and asked a bunch of questions? Well when you turned away I saw one of those 'things' pounce on a person, and… and the 'thing' started to tear the man's flesh out while eating it" he breaths heavily.

' _What the fuck'_ I thought again.

I just stare at him blankly trying to process this.

"We can't just go like this because it's too much of a risk for myself and especially yours, and if something happens to you then I just… I just wouldn't be able to… live … with that" he stares directly into my stone coal eyes.

My stomach starts doing weird flips and I try to ignore the feeling.

"There has to be some sort of way, I mean we can't just stay here" I tell him sternly.

He nods and brings his hand to the back of his head again in his nervous habit.

We sit there for about ten more minutes, checking up on the blood gurglers behind us, trying to figure out a way for the both of us without getting killed or worse devoured by some maniacs.

My train of thought suddenly gets destroyed when Peeta finally speaks up.

"I'll go" he states.

"No!" I shout without even thinking.

His hands fly up to my face again covering my mouth once more earning me that familiar shiver all from my cheeks to the tips of my toes.

"Are you crazy? Or just lost your mind completely?" I say as I tap my finger to the middle of my forehead a couple of times.

He cups my face with his hands, one behind my ear and the other holding my chin up while wiping some mud and debris with his thumb on my chin.

"We have to get out of here somehow, and this is the only way" he says as he turn his head slightly to the left to take a peek behind the wall.

"This is stupid, you're writing your own death wish here" I say, scowling further.

"Look nobody is going to come for help as they are running themselves" he says

' _He's got a point about that one, but there has to be something else_ -'my thoughts get interrupted by his voice.

"Look I don't care if it's crazy or not, listen to me, you see that gym right there on the far left?" he points towards these double doors that lead to the gymnasium. I nod

"Okay this is what's going to happen, when I count to three I will rush out of this spot and get the attention of the walkers by shouting, and as soon as I have it, they should all proceed to follow me that's when I will start sprinting to the gym. And as soon as you see a gap you run like you have never ran before through the exit and wait for me out there, and for gods sakes if I do not come out do not wait for me okay?. Go and find Prim and if you find Rue take care of her to?" He says seriously as sweat slides down his muddy face.

I try to swallow everything that he had said.

"This is madness" I blurt out.

He stares at me intensely.

"I know, but this is the only way, you have to be ready" he whispers, with glassy eyes

I do nothing but nod slightly, my vision getting slightly blurry again

"Okay…one…" his fingers move some hair out of my eyes, behind my ear.

"Two…" he says

"Why are you doing this?" I whisper.

He smiles lazily "because I know that if one of us makes it, it's going to be you"

And with that he slowly leans in and softly touches his warm lips against mine sending long pleasant shivers down my spine. This was my first kiss, because growing up I didn't have time for boys I was too busy taking care of Prim when our mother wasn't there. But for some sort of weird reason it felt right for it to be with Peeta.

My stomach turns more and more, and when the shock settles in, I soon respond and lightly press my lips firmer to his warm one.

"Three" he whispers faintly smiling, he gets up.

Giving me a last glance he goes towards the walker's direction, and starts shouting something towards them but it is all just muffled to me.

My heart beating out of my chest, amazement and more shock settling in I try to re-gather my thoughts of what just happened, then after a few more seconds I hear a faint muffled 'go' and reality hits me, my head turns towards the voice only to see Peeta sprinting towards the gym like he said with a bunch of them staggering behind him. My eyes scan the perimeter, 'my chance' I thought.

I jump up my adrenaline gushing through me, and I start pumping my legs towards the exit when I hear a gurgling to my right, I look in the direction and I'm met with blood shot ones.

Without thinking my hands fly towards the walker's direction, and I push him hard so that it falls straight on its ass, probably breaking it in a few places. I carry on sprinting for the door, crashing through it I stop and try to catch my now unsteady breaths.

I look around my surroundings, warm liquid now falling down my right cheek and smoke clogging up my eyes I hear close gun shots, wiping my bloody hands on my pants I look towards the doors I ran through.

"Peeta" I blurt out to myself.

Panic starts to settle in when Peeta doesn't come up after a good 5 minutes, I look to my left and grab a metal pipe that must've fallen off when the explosion hit, ' _safety precautions'_ I remember Peeta's famous words.

The sound of uneven footsteps grab my attention coming from the building, my eyes spring up only to find the same walker about 10 yards away, its lips hanging loosely from its face dripping blood, eyes bloodshot and diseased with hunger coming right for me.

Both of my hands hold the pipe harder as I steady my position in full defence.

Just then from the right I spot a blond figure with 6 other figures stumbling behind him. Looking down I see that he seems to be limping on his left foot making it difficult for him to out run the other 5. Agony hitting his face every time he steps on it, he makes straight eye contact with me screaming something.

Squinting my eyes, "what?" I say to no one specific.

He limps closer to the slow walker in front of me about 6 yards and pushes him away, I quickly glace at his leg again and see that it is trickling a lot of blood, I feel more noxious looking at his wound.

"Run!" I heard him scream.

But instead my stubborn ass runs up to the entrance and opens the shattered door window for him, and as I do that I hear a really loud sound coming from behind me that destroys my right ear drum and crashes against the school building shaking the ground.

It was as if everything happened in slow motion, I glance towards Peeta in confusion as he gives me an apologetic filled with tears and sorrow look just like he did before.

I don't quite understand why but then bricks from above start falling and covering the entrance and cutting me away from Peeta crushing his whole body with it.

I start screaming his name destroying my vocal chords, as my vision gets blurry.

The last thought rushes through my mind before I am swallowed by complete darkness is…

' _Peeta sacrificed his life for me and now he's dead, and I'm going to die to here right now in this rubble'_.


	4. Savior

**Authors Note:** **Thank You again for the reviews guys! It really helps a lot as I have mentioned before. I really like writing this story because I just love writing and reading over all. And I got some comments asking how Peeta dies, this chapter will explain it hopefully. Anyway this chapter is going to be a little different because it isn't action packed, it's about a conversation. And I think it really works with the story because it builds up the emotion and how close these two character will get, you guys will see for yourselves anyway hopefully. But enough with that I hope you enjoy this chapter, and no worries as the next few chapters will be action packed so stay tuned!**

 **More action, zombies and gore coming soon stay tuned!**

 **Disclaimer** **– I do not own any of the hunger games characters or story, all of the credit goes to Suzanne Collins.**

 _It was as if everything happened in slow motion, I glance towards Peeta in confusion as he gives me an apologetic filled with tears and sorrow look just like he did before._

 _I don't quite understand why but then bricks from above start falling and covering the entrance and cutting me away from Peeta crushing his whole body with it._

 _I start screaming his name destroying my vocal chords, as my vision gets blurry._

 _The last thought rushes through my mind before I'm swallowed by complete darkness is…_

' _Peeta sacrificed his life for me and now he's dead, and I am going to die to here right now in this rubble'._

I slowly open my eyes to the sound of footsteps and someone talking on a distant radio. My ears focus more as the footsteps come closer and closer to my body.

I try to open my eyes more but the light bores deeply into my irises, so I shut them right away. I try to move my fingers but it's as if I was jailed in my own body, I try again but only manage to move my finger across this rough but bland surface.

"OH my gosh! You're awake?" a voice suddenly chirps in. it sounded so innocent yet filled with worry.

' _Could it be Prim_? I think to myself.

A shock of anxiety ran through me, which made me feel lightheaded and slightly noxious, that my eyes suddenly close again.

"No no don't pass out again" the voice rang out, in a more desperate tone.

I couldn't help it, darkness fills my eye site and I fall into deep sleep again.

The smell of smoke stirs me awake, my eyes opening wide only to shut again because of the strong light attacking them. I open them one by one slowly, achieving this new technique, my eyes focus on the dark walls in front of me. I scan the room that I'm in, ripped wallpapers and a few tables.

' _Where am I?_ ' I ask myself.

I turn my head to the left slightly only to earn me a sharp jolt of pain that shoots straight into my head, my hand quickly comes up to support it but comes in contact with some sort of rough fabric. Being the very stubborn person I am, I turn around again and look down ignoring the pain rushing into my head. To my shock I see a pool of blood on the pillow that I am guessing must be mine.

' _What the heck?_ ' I thought again panic rising inside of me.

I turn to the sound of footsteps at the door, and see a small figure slouching and clutching something in their arms.

I freeze. We stare at each other for a couple of seconds before the figure breaks the silence.

"You're awake?" it comes out in a tone of disbelief.

I do nothing but stare at the figures direction. Its voice sounded really innocent with a hint or relief if I heard right.

"I was just going to change your covers because they don't look as good do they?" speaking again it steps forward into the light

It was a little girl, probably around twelve to thirteen tops. She had dark black fuzzy hair that had been combed into an afro, dark wide eyes that get easily complimented by her dark brown skin tone.

' _I've seen this girl before'_ my mind registers.

"Where am I? What happened?" I ask.

She looks at me and slowly walks forward towards me and cautiously sits on the bed.

"Where about two kilometres away from where I found you, near my school." She says as she peers her innocent eyes into mine.

"How did you find me?" I push for answers.

She looks uneasy a little, almost uncomfortable with the situation.

"I ermm well when the explosion happened I ran out of school when I found the opportunity and then hid inside some bush, but after a couple of minutes I heard someone shouting Peeta's name which came from the entrance. So I ran towards the voice only to see bricks falling from the top covering the front of the school. I carried on searching for whoever was shouting and then I spotted you lying in a pool of blood underneath piles of bricks that had toppled on top of you. So I dragged you out of there." She says as she replays the scene in her head.

I try to process everything that she had said, until this overwhelming rush of guilt hits me.

Peeta.

"Is Peeta okay, did you see him!?" I almost shout in worry.

Her brow raises and she frowns.

"I'm sorry I didn't see Peeta" she says

"But he was-… wait how do you know Peeta?" I ask confused.

"If were on about the blonde boy that goes to the same school? Then I know him, he's my babysitter when my parents go out, he always lets me help out in the bakery on the weekends, he's a great guy, he's like a brother from another mother you know?" she chuckles again but then frowns deeper.

' _Babysitter… bakery_?' I think for a couple of minutes as the awkward silence spreads, then the image of the little girl in-between the two Mellark's, painted in bread flour hits me like a punch in the face.

' _Wait give me a second she can't be-?_ ' I put two and two together.

"Wait you must be Rue?" I blurt out.

She looks taken aback, with surprise written all over her golden features.

"Ermm yes? How do you know me?" she asks guarded.

"I'm sorry, it's just when this whole _'thing'_ hit, Peeta mentioned you a couple of times, I go to his classes, I'm Katniss by the way." I blurt out as I extend my hand for her to shake, in a genuine manner.

Her eyes suddenly go wide with shock as she gaped at me.

"You're… Katniss Everdeen?" she asks in disbelief.

I nod to her answer in disarray.

"You know me?" I ask

She chuckles at my response

"of course I do, Peeta doesn't stop talking about you, if I was being honest it kind of gets annoying at times, the guy likes you a lot but doesn't want to tell you, don't tell him that I told you though" she says with a huge grin plastered on her face, showing of her white teeth.

I smile for her sake, but surprised in my own, with a hint of annoyance, but that suddenly gets pushed away when I remember what happened between us near the entrance.

I feel warmth rush up my body and up my neck and into my cheeks.

' _Great'_ I thought, annoyed.

Rue notices my reddening cheeks and grins even more, but suddenly it fades away, and is replaced by a frown.

"Where is Peeta anyway what happened back there?" she asks.

I start feeling noxious again, as I replay the scene over in my head.

"Peeta saved my life, he tried to run for the entrance with a bunch of walkers running after him, but then the bricks from above… fell and crushed his body then… then it all went black. And now he's dead for trying to save me, it's my fault." I stutter out as tears fill my eyes, guilt replacing my emotional state.

Rue stares at me blankly.

"I'm sorry" I whisper, I know it's stupid.

She nods her head side to side.

"He's not dead, I don't believe that one bit he's to strong. It's not your fault, he made a decision to save you for his own personal reasons. Whoever shot at the building, is who's fault it is." She says as she tears up herself but doesn't lose eye contact.

"Look I don't think-"she cuts me off by her hands flying to the top of my head.

"Let me clean that up for you" she suggests, clearly wanting to change the subject.

 **Half an hour later**.

She finishes up her work and throws the old bandage away.

"Rue? Did you see a small girl about your size, blonde with bright blue eyes called Prim?" I ask with a rougher voice.

She sits up and looks around the room deep in thought.

About five minutes pass, when she breaks the silence once more.

"I did" she says.

My heart flutters in my chest a couple of times.

"Where?" I demand.

"Well I saw her being escorted out with some people a couple of minutes after I got out. She was looking around frantically until some man, probably round your age, dark hair, olive skin, light stubble beard, and around six feet tall, he looked at her weirdly and took her by the hand. And they both navigated to the east." She states.

"A tall man with dark hair and six feet tall" I repeat as horrific images pop up into my mind. Pure anger rushes through my veins and sets them on fire.

"I have to go thank you Rue for everything really, but I have to go now." I say in a hurry.

I rise up of the bed, not bothered about the glass that shattered on the ground I stumble for the door.

"Wait!" Rue shouts in a painfully desperate manner.

I stop in my track and turn around to face her.

"Don't leave me here… alone, you can't… go" she stated quickly as her eyes turn blurry from tears.

"Why? Rue how long have I been out?" I ask scared to know the answer.

She gives me a painful look.

"Today would be your third day" she says slowly

"My third day! I need to go, I need to go now!" I shout as I head for the door once more.

"Prim didn't even look scared when the man took her by the hand, I swear I saw relief!" Rue shoots of the bed like a lightning bolt.

"She didn't look scared at all?" I ask in disbelief.

"Well she did like the whole of us but she seemed okay with it" Rue says.

I try to process what she had said, but chose not to believe her.

"Goodbye Rue" I say as I turn around and twist the door knob.

"Please stay… please I have been alone all this time, and it's getting worse out there, and if it helps I've been out there following people and I've seen glimpses of Prim." She screeches as she walks towards me.

"So you know where she is hiding at?" I demand as I step forward.

"Well yes, kind of. I know which direction around 3 kilometres away from here" she states as she thinks.

' _3 kilometres? Why?"_ I think.

"Why would you walk so far?" I stare at her as my serious tone grows.

"I had to find bandages, and as I was trekking around I saw Prim again with this man and this other little kid next to them which looked like the man's brother. They looked like they would be safe to hang around with." She says, shrugging softly.

"So we could go now, and see if their still around that area?" I say as I grab the door knob, twisting it and opening it slowly.

She hesitates for a moment.

"It's too dangerous out there, their more violent they are everywhere and all they want to do it eat you. I've already seen a woman get devoured right in front of my eyes by those things" she stumbles on her words as one tear slides down her cheek.

"Walkers" I state.

"Walkers? Where did you get that from?" she asks as her hand raises and wipes off the tear.

"Peeta mentioned that word before to describe those things, so I stuck with it" I say as Peeta's terrified features flash in front of my eyes.

She nods slowly.

I walk up and crouch down in front of her, picking her hands up in mine. ' _Oh how much she reminded me of Prim'_ it was almost painful to look at her.

" we'll be okay , but we have to go we can't waste this time, I've already wasted enough and it might be too late to save my little sister" I tell her as I keep direct eye contact to show her that this is very serious to me.

"Okay, but…we have to take equipment, just look around this place and get what you need" she says as her eyes scan the area.

I nod and let go of her hands as I stand up. I head to the left and look to the side to find a small closet. My hand reaches forward and opens the little door. I peek inside and my eyes focus on and old brown backpack that had seen better days lying in the corner. My fingers lace around it as I pull it towards me, zipping it open all I find is a box of wooden matches. I shake them a little.

' _Half full, that'll do'_ I say.

I turn around and walk to the right, to the kitchen. Opening a few draws I manage to find a hunting knife that will probably come in handy. A pack of dried beef strips and crackers and two tins full of beans.

Scowling to myself, I walk into the first bedroom which is directly opposite the kitchen. I look around and make up my mind about picking a sleeping back over covers, they'd waste too much space.

And finally I head to the bathroom which was down the hall to the left. Only to find a bottle of iodine which I think would be quite helpful if necessary so I grab it and place it in my now new bag.

I step back out of the bathroom, down the hall and see Rue sitting on the living room sofa with an old leather bag next to her. I take a few steps towards her.

"Hey, you ugh ready?" I whisper.

She looks up and smiles sadly, "yes sure".

I crouch down in front of her again.

"Hey we will be okay, I promise. I won't let anyone hurt you, Peeta even said for me to find you and take care of you, and I'll keep his word" I say sincerely as more flashbacks of Peeta fly into my head breaking my mood more.

I shake my head a little, to loosen the memory.

"He really said that?" she asks as more tears flood her eyes.

"Yes he did" I say as my arms wrap her body into a hug.

I am not exactly the hugging type of person, I tend to stay clear of affection but Rue looked so vulnerable at this moment, it reminded me so much of Prim and how she must be feeling right now. And I'd lie if I said that I didn't need that hug either.

I break away and stand up.

I head for the door as Rue sticks close to me. As I reach for the handle I look back towards her direction.

"You ready?" I ask.

She gives me a last look of reassurance, as I turn the door knob to the right only to earn me that very familiar squeak of dissatisfaction.

We both enter through it.


	5. Stumbling along

**Authors Note:** **Thanks again for the helpful reviews some of you guys sent, it really helps me out a lot. I really liked writing this specific chapter because I have realised that the only way you get to understand it more is by** **reading it very carefully right from the top** **, which made it all sound quite cool, well that's what I think in my opinion. Anyway enough with that, enjoy this new chapter. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did writing it.**

 **And it would be really wonderful if you guys commented on how you felt after reading it, I really enjoy reading your reviews** **.**

 **Disclaimer** **\- I do not own any of the hunger games characters or story, all of the credit goes to Suzanne Collins.**

The door gently snaps behind us creating a mild echo that had bounced off the walls into the depths of my ear drums. I lightly shrug and peer forward. Standing in front of me was a vast corridor filled with old photographs from around the 60's I'm guessing. A soothing velvet carpet distributed evenly across the long surface. Litter scattered everywhere which suggests to me that there must have been a rush out of this building. My thoughts are corrected when I glance further down and see a stretch of blood traveling into a room a couple of metres from ours.

I spin around to the familiar face below me.

"What happened here?" I whisper, as I point to the crimson colour plastered on the ground.

Rue's eyes travel down my finger as they stop on the mark. Her mouth gaps a little as her brows turn up in shock and agitation. She stares at it for a couple of more minutes, until I lift my hand up and softly click my thumb and index finger infront of her eyes to get her attention. She jumps a little and squints her eyes towards me.

"That must've been the screeching that was going on outside our room yesterday, I guess it ended like this" she utters, nodding to the blood stretch.

"There was this old couple that lived there-"she gets interrupted by loud grunting noises.

Without thinking I flung my hands towards her face, landing my fingers directly on her mouth. Her eyes shoot up at me in horror. I look down at her, trying my best to hide my terror-stricken eyes from hers. I try to ease them up a little as I place one of my fingers up to my lips.

Just like Peeta had at the entrance.

She understands my actions and gently nods her head. I let my hands fall from her face as the bone-cracking sounds continue from the elderly couple's room. I look forward and see my target, the staircase.

Nerves bubbling up inside my stomach I hesitantly take a couple steps ahead. Now silently sliding across the wall I reach the entrance of the door, which the sounds are coming from.

As I'm about to take a peek from the side, the bottom of my shirt gets tugged on lightly. I look to the left and see Rue's uneasy stare. Her forehead creases even more as the gnawing; slurping sounds carry on. My hand grabs hers pressing firmly, reassuring he that it's okay.

I turn back around, my heart racing gushing my blood through my veins faster than normal. I take a glace.

I am suddenly hit by nausea, I feel light headed from such disgust. Goosebumps formed on my skin as my whole body felt numb.

I see it. It's nibbling on the insides of a stomach, ripping through all the muscle tissue, it slurps blood digging in deeper inside by the second. Dripping its hot saliva, melting it on bare flesh. It takes a different angle and chomps away at the victim's hand cracking at every bone, sucking on them vigorously. The prey softly whimpers and nods its head side to side, as it's being feasted on.

My ears focus on the sudden gasp behind me, I twist around to see Rue standing nearly in the middle of the doorway, turning more paler by the second with her hand covering her mouth as the other holds tightly on her shirt around her stomach area. She takes a step back causing a light bump. Creasing my forehead and closing my eyes.

' _He definitely heard that'_ I think.

I grab her shirt in no time hurling her firmly against my body muting her entire existence as the walker runs up to the door smelling, while stirring its eyes everywhere madly. I hold my breath, as a cascade of panic flows through my entire being. Feeling as if I'm going to black out any moment the walker retrieves back to its meal, chewing away at its preys limbs.

My arms open up slightly as I look down. Moving my hand up to her face and wipe her tears away. She sniffles a little and I bring her body in tighter.

' _We could have died?_ ' I thought as confusion and anger settled in.

After a couple of minutes pass I let go of Rue and peek over the door frame again, I see it's back arched away from us.

' _That's our escape'_ I say in my head.

I look at Rue "I'm going to crouch and run to the other side of the wall while he is not looking okay? Then we will do the same thing with you" I whisper directly to Rue.

She looks nervous at such thought but I straighten my lips and nod that ' _it'll be fine_.'

' _Hopefully_ ' I think.

I take one more glance at the walker. With my hunters mode turned on, I quickly but soundlessly swift through the air into the other side, cold sweat dripping down my temple; down my shoulder as I look into the room again.

Nothing.

Since I didn't catch any attention I wave over for Rue to do the same thing, but as she begins to move. Its devilish bloodshot eyes catch her movement and it lets out a giant abnormal scream.

My eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets when I yell for Rue to run. I turn as we both start dashing for the staircase. With me a couple of seconds in front of Rue I reach it first only to hear another shriek of pain when I look back.

It's on top of her, violently cracking its teeth towards her face, blood falling from its mouth onto her cheek. She is trying to fight it by pushing its shoulders back.

An overwhelming amount of rage fills my body, as my eyes acknowledge the image. And before my body is fully comprehending my actions I sprint towards its direction. A couple of seconds later my foot connects with the side of its temple in a huge amount of power hammering it to the ground on the side.

Buying me some time I reach down to grab hold of Rues arm. I fling her up in one smooth motion, and we both run down the stair case.

Reaching the bottom floor in seconds we break through the exit door almost falling straight onto our faces. My hand finds Rues again and we both get up of the ground, not trusting my surroundings I scan the closest object we could hide behind. A dark green vehicle.

Breathing in the somewhat fouled air I drag Rue to the right and settle her down.

"Are you hurt, did it bite you?" I ask wordily, as I inspect her full body quickly.

"No, not that I can feel anything, I think I'm fine" Rue states as her hands fly on top of mine to stop them from moving.

I look up, "I'm sorry Rue for leaving you back there" I wince as the sickening images of that walker on top of her flash back.

"But you came back didn't you?" she asks still panting.

' _She has got a point'_ I think.

I slide down on the ground touching the metal green door behind me. Rue mimics my actions. And we both lean back catching our breaths.

"I know but I should have slowed down for you, you know?" I look down as my guilt rises.

"Katniss look at me" Rue says as she lifts up my chin a little with her small fingers.

"I'm fine okay, it was a close call but thank you for saving my life, I'm sure Peeta would be very thankful too" the sides of her lips raise a little to reassure me.

I nod, as Peeta's last words fly into my head ' _if you find Rue take care of her to_.' My heart suddenly clenches at the thought of him, so I just focus on the rocky surface in front of me.

The sudden loud tormenting yelp interrupts my train of thoughts.

Rue shoots up like a rocket on her two feet to see what's going on, but I grab hold of her shirt and I force her down. She gives me a weird look that is between ' _what are you doing_?' and ' _what the hell?'_

"We have to help her" Rue whispers in a desperate tone.

Knowing how it would end, I softly nod side to side. She gave me a look of disbelief.

"Look we don't know why she is shouting or what is going on, just let me check." I state as a scowl grows on my face.

I silently get on all my fours and crawl my way to peek over the side of the vehicle. My breath suddenly catches in my throat when I see a red car in the distance. It's tipped over near a tree with about ten walkers surrounding it, aggressively trying to break in.

I sit back up, and nod side to side "there's no way we can help her without getting us killed" I state as I wipe the sweat of my forehead.

Rues eyes open wide as she processes what I had said.

"What? We can't help, she will die!" Rue raises her voice a little in a state of panic.

"Look that woman is in a lot of trouble I get that, I would go and help. That would be if she didn't have around ten walkers surrounding her car" I state the brutal truth.

Her eyes slowly fill with tears as she wipes her nose.

"So were just going to let her die?" she asks, completely disenchanted with herself.

' _Yes'_ I thought, but I didn't want to disappoint her even more.

"Rue I know this is hard for you, but if we went we would have been in a lot of trouble to, sometimes it's better to avoid trouble rather than ask for it" I say as I look directly at Rue.

Her eyes open a little more as she gives me a depressed frown.

"Come on lets go" I say as I get up.

She mumbles a short ' _okay_ ' and heads behind me.

We sneak out of that place by crouching behind more objects so that we wouldn't get spotted. While Rue treks silently behind me. I soon begin noticing that instead of concrete beneath us there is a lot of mud. I look up and were met by the very familiar enormous sap green forest. Its huge branches hang over the others shielding us from the bright sun. The slow but cold breeze blows straight into my face causing relief to gush through me.

I inhale the fresh air.

' _Home_ ' I signed as my lips turned up a little.

We walk through the dense forest kicking rocks and throwing a couple of twigs.

After what seems like thirty minutes we come to a halt in front of a gigantic beautiful oak tree. It had probably been resting there for many many years.

I shoot Rue a glance as she gives me a confused one. I grin a little to myself as I hop around the huge roots of the tree only to find the dark hole inside it that I was looking for. Rue follows me around.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

The sides of my lips raise a little bit more when my hand reaches down and comes back up with my beautiful handmade bow. Its coffee like colour shines in the suns ray, as if it had just been polished yesterday. I reach down a little more into the crack of the hole and retrieve my arrows. I glance around to look at Rue.

Her eyes are wide as her mouth hangs low.

"You're not planning on shooting me with that thing are you?" she asks in horror.

I chuckle a little at her response, "don't be stupid, why would I do such a thing?" I say.

Her lips quirk up a little as she gazes at my bow and arrow.

"It's beautiful, looks really well-crafted I'm its guessing handmade?" she asks, as she looks at the designs on the bow.

I sigh a little as I look down at the wooden structure in my hand.

"Yeah it's handmade, it reminds me a lot of home" I say as I glance at her direction.

"Do you hunt or something?" she questions.

"Yes" I say quickly, looking away.

' _Change of subject'_ I ask myself.

"Let's go shall we before it gets dark?" I request as I start moving forwards leaving the beautiful oak tree behind me which once reminded me of home.

Hurling my bow and arrows on my back we start meandering our way through more of the thick green forest.

 **Hour later.**

More leaves scrunch underneath the soles of my shoes as a come across a blob of concrete, I gaze up. My eyes scan a fairly tall broken down metal structure that had been built and deserted years ago leaving only history behind. Without thinking I enter through it and I glance around.

It's just a huge empty space, with grass beating its way through the old globs of concrete. The metal frames all rusted and even black at parts suggesting that there must've been a fire. With the celling barely holding itself together, I look around the walls. Graffiti and people's names drawn all over the area, with just one broken window by the far right corner staring fully at the sun that is just beginning to set.

' _Why didn't I notice this place before?"_ I ask myself.

My eyes gaze to the left and I notice the only standing room in this warehouse. I move forward towards the door as the glass crunched underneath my feet.

I look back at Rue. She's just examining the area as her eyes dashed everywhere.

I turn back to the door and I open it slowly earning me that all too familiar squeak, which brings back a small flash back of Peeta. His apologetic look flashes up in front of my eyes as he opens the creaky door from our classroom.

' _Why can't I just forget about him?_ ' I ask irritated with myself.

I get nudged lightly on my back which breaks my train of thoughts. I walk through the door. I see a lot more graffiti inside this room, a burned black spot in the centre which suggests that there was a small fire pit in here, and a very muddy; filthy blanket kicked on the far corner.

' _Why would they create a fire pit inside a small room?'_ I think to myself as the muscles of my left eyebrow stretch up.

I glance to my right and I spot a rusty metal rod, I stretch forward and grab it. Rue slips past my frame into the room and glances down at the metal object in my hand, she shoots me a confused look.

"Safety precautions" I say.

Without warning Peeta flies right back into my mind. I see his white bright smile beaming as he asks me questions about my day in class and that _'we will be out of here in no time'_.

My lips curve down a little.

' _It takes so much more to figure him out-'_ my thoughts are suddenly interrupted when I hear a clang outside our door.

I look towards Rue as her face fills with fear.

Not knowing what to do I simply take a peek out the door, only to be met by a dark figure heading our way. I spin around to face Rue.

"Stay here" I command, as I walk out the door.

I start walking towards the figure slowly my alarm bells ringing a little.

"Hello?" I ask the dark figure.

It starts staggering forward faster, as it begins to make grunting sounds.

I hold the metal rod stronger in a baseball position.

"Don't come any closer" I warn, my alarm bells ringing like crazy right now.

However it ignores my words and picks up in speed instead, only then my eyes notice the blood and the huge wounds on in its face. It's about to grasp me when I take a full swing of the rod which connects directly with its jaw knocking it down a little. To my complete fear and confusion it gets back up with its jaw hanging loosely like a thread. I take another swing at it again my adrenaline overflowing my whole body as it collapses to the ground. Without another second I step forward and I nail the rod directly into its temple and through its brain, splattering blood on my shoes.

I freeze. The rod slips out of my hand and clangs against the ground. I stagger back and fall on my ass, breathing greatly.

' _I have just killed a person'_ I say as the shock settles in quickly.

I stare at the dead body in front of me for a couple of minutes which seemed like hours to me. A line of blood sailing its way towards my feet. I hear footsteps behind me, she comes by my side holding that dirty blanket I saw earlier. I squint my eyebrows as she places it on top of the corpse in front of us.

She turns around and holds out her hand. I give her a forlorn scowl as my shaking hand takes hers.

We walk back into the room and Rue shuts the door. I sit down quietly and stare at my hands.

' _I'm going crazy'_ I repeat to myself a couple of times.

Rue sits next to me and looks at the wall in front of us, while she plays around with her thumbs.

"You did the right thing you know" she breaks the silence.

I look up in disbelief.

' _I just killed a person'_ I think again.

"If you didn't do anything we would have probably not been sitting here right now" she states.

' _She may be right, but that doesn't change the fact that I just murdered someone'_ I think as I try to cool down and not look like the weak one around this place, because that will not get me anywhere.

As a couple of silent minutes pass I decide to take of my bow and arrows from around my shoulder and settle them down. My back wiggles the old bag off my shoulders, and I zip it open. I pull out the sleeping bag and the two tins I had collected at Rues apartment.

"Hungry?" I ask towards her.

Rues eyes light up a shade as she grins wildly showing of her wide smile. I lean over and I hand her the can, which she takes gratefully. She looks at it for a while and then back at me with a shy but disappointed look.

Then I remember, my hand flies to the bag again and I pull out the hunting knife to cut open the tins.

Rue smiles at me, and tips the tin into her mouth since we don't have any spoons to eat with. I do the same as my mouth fills with saliva.

 **Five minutes later.**

We carry on munching on our food when Rue once again breaks the ' _now comfortable'_ silence.

"Did Peeta tell you about this one time, where he thought that it would be a good idea to create a gigantic watermelon cake, which ended up looking like a complete catastrophe?" she asks as she grins at her memory.

I nod heartening her to carry on, but my mind starts wandering off elsewhere.

"well there was this one day where Peeta and I decided to come up with random stuff to bake and the watermelon cake was the first thing that popped into his head so we thought, ' _ohh hell with it'_ \- she carries on speaking while grinning excitedly, but it all starts to be barely audible, when I slowly begin to fall asleep.

 _I see him sitting by the tree with his blonde untidy locks radiating in the sun, as his white shirt blows in the light gentle breeze._

 _He seems slouched over something. With his head looking forward and then back down a couple of times, I realise that he is drawing something. I don't quite see what it is so I take a few steps closer and see the beautiful yellows, gathered in a bunch combined with other greens and bright colours._

" _Dandelions" we both whisper at the same time._

 _He looks up at me with his oceanic blue eyes which I easily get lost in, and gives me that handsome smile._

" _You're… alive?" I stare at him in disbelief._

 _He smiles wider and stands up "of course I am" he says._

 _Growing more confused and dumbstruck by this whole situation I push for more answers._

" _I saw you get crushed by that building, you were limping and-"I state as his index finger flies up and touches my lips._

" _Shh it doesn't matter now right? I'm here now" he says as his hand moves down and his fingers lace through my braid, undoing it a little._

" _I've missed you, you know?" he states as his blue eyes lock on my coal grey ones._

' _This is not real' I think._

 _Seconds later I push him away with all my power "you're dead, I saw you die!" I shout at him, in guilt._

 _He smiles with a hint disappointment as his eyes suddenly turn blood red and the skin of his face starts to peel off. That's when I hear it that agonising scream I heard before, I turn towards the scream and see Rue surrounded by around ten walkers, they scrape at the red car that she is in, pushed up against the tree._

 _I start to sprint towards her direction screaming her name as I try to track the attention onto myself. I swing out my bow and arrow. Sailing them straight into the walkers' backs, dropping them one by one._

" _I can make it'' I repeat to myself as I leap over more hurdles._

 _I send more arrows towards the direction of the walkers when I realize that they just keep respawning. I suddenly hear the window smash and my eyes launch up, I see Rue being dragged out through the window like a rag doll._

 _I scream her name louder +breaking my vocal cords as angry tears flood down my face, feeling completely helpless I stop in my tracks._

 _I was too late._

 _They start to tear open her stomach, pulling out her insides ferociously as she groggily utters out my name-…_

My eyes open wide as I shoot up of the floor. I look around in panic. I kick over my remaining beans from my can as I carry on throwing things around the room.

She's not here.

Now in sheer panic, I start screaming Rues name as I whizz out the door, only to stop when I see a small figure in the distance in front of the damaged glass window. I take a few cautious steps forward and I notice the familiar hairdo. Relief floods through my whole body as my face begins to rest.

' _It was only a bad dream, she's alive'_ I state in my head as sweat drips of my forehead. I walk closer towards her frame. Her elbows are resting on the windowsill and her whole body leans against the wall as she stares out the shattered window. I step closer to her.

"You're awake?" she asks blandly.

I nod even though she can't see, my worry settling down.

"I was looking all over for you, where did you go? I can't have you walking outside like that" I say, as I scowl.

I shrugs slightly, "you fell asleep, and I didn't want to wake you, plus when I opened the door I noticed this" she points towards the sky.

I follow her finger. I have been so caught up in my own sheer panic that I didn't even manage to notice the beautiful sunset that had painted itself on the sky. Its beautiful combination of reds, oranges and yellows merged just perfectly. The calm breeze swaying through the branches giving the whole scenery a much calmer atmosphere, even though it is clearly not.

"It's stunning" I utter to Rue.

She nods a little.

"You know this is Peeta's favourite colour, sunset orange" she signs, as she stares at the sunset.

I smile a little, you can evidently tell how close these two people were. I think back to me and Prim and how our relationship is indestructible too. I'm not even classed as that little girl's sister anymore, but more like a mother, who had been through many rough situations.

"I remember how he would always take us both on top of this beautiful hill when we finished with the baking. He would always and I mean always bring his paints and paint brushes and a blanket for us both to sit on. And we would just paint, to the point of our hands actually aching." She chuckles as she stares out into the distance, the remaining bits of light enhancing all her beautiful features.

"When we would be done, he would just sit there and admire it, you know? Who knows what was going on in his head, but my only guess is probably something to do with you" she looks back over her shoulder and grins.

A gush of warmth wipes my cheeks and I look down. Suddenly interested in the ground.

"He was always very passionate about the things he loved, and he never gave up. I mean he finally gathered enough guts to talk to you for Christ's sakes. But at the wrong time, he is way too tough and way too clever for anything to get in his way and slow him down. He didn't die I know it, he will…he will come back… around you will…you will see" she sniffles a little bit, as her hand flies up to mop her tears.

I slowly grab her by the shoulders and turn her to face me, her eyes muffled in tears and a frown so wrecked that my heart clenches for a second.

I pull her in for a tight hug as she sobs uncontrollably into my shirt. "We will see" I whisper into her hair, to create hope for the both of us.

"Remember when I told…told you about that… that woman being devoured… in front… in front of my eye… eyes?" she utters out her words, as her tears soak my shirt.

"Mhmm" I mumble into her hair.

"That… that was my… my mom" she blurts out, now bawling, barely catching her breath.

I hug her even closer, as she shakes both of our bodies. I shut my eyes as my own heart-breaking flashbacks of my dad burn into mind. The day he died. The day that had brought two men knocking on our door, dressed in all black state-ting how they couldn't help him and how his car crushed his entire body, killing him on the spot. We didn't even get to say goodbye.

I know the feeling of loss, but I sure as hell do not wish other people to experience it too especially this little thirteen year old girl. I close my hands tighter around her body.

"Shh it's going to be okay, I've promised remember?" I whisper next to her ear as she sniffles louder.

' _How could she have kept this inside of her all this time?'_ I question myself in disbelief. As my shirt turns wetter by the minute

Around twenty minutes pass by and it's entirely dark outside. I hold Rue in my arms as she drowsily whimpers up her last tears. I look down at her, giving my best reassuring smile.

"Come on let's get some sleep" I whisper.

She nods sleepily.

We both walk back into the room, I make sure to shut the door as I sit down on the ground. I look around for my sleeping bag, only to find it kicked off in the far right corner. I reach for it and I slide in.

I look back at Rue a couple of seconds later. She lies on the ground with her head resting on her bag, shivering slightly.

As much as am not a fan of affection. I just can't help but feel somehow closer to Rue, she is so much like Prim, courageous, strong and way too clever for her age. I feel like speaking to her comes across easier than expected. We have been through a lot and the way Rue has opened up to me and trusted me. I see her as more of an ally than a complete stranger. Somebody that I can trust, and someone that I have created a strong bond with.

"Are you cold" I ask.

"No" she says in her drained state, shuddering a little more.

I shuffle a little in my tiny sleeping bag as I try to make space. Without any luck I sit up and reach over for my bag, only to retrieve my hunting knife from it. I slice open the sleeping bag so that it is now more of a blanket than a bag.

"Come here" I say, as I pick up the end part of the blanket.

She looks a little hesitant at first but then joins me underneath. She nuzzles closer up to me, just like Prim does when she has a nightmare. I wrap my hand around her body to keep her warm, safe and away from any harm.

The last thing I remember before I fall asleep, is Peetas words…

' _If you find Rue take care of her to'_. I owe Peeta my life for what he did back at the school for me, and I promise with my whole heart that I will take care of Rue and my sister Prim, just like he had asked me to. I don't break promises that I have authentically made myself.

And with that I attempt to fall asleep.

 **I would love to hear your thoughts so far on this chapter and even the whole story. So feel free to comment because as I said I love reading them.**

 **Anyway hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, and stay tuned for the upcoming chapters! I happily upload every Tuesday.**


	6. Not Again

**Authors Note:** **Thank You all again for still being here with me and following the story with me. This chapter is more action packed so I hope you guys like it. I liked writing this chapter, it took a lot of thought but it's here so that a good thing. Any way if you guys have any suggestions on how the story should go then you're free to tell me, I could use the help. Anyway enjoy this new chapter 6!**

 **Disclaimer** **\- I do not own any of the hunger games characters or story, all of the credit goes to Suzanne Collins.**

I wake up to the sound of leaves being scrunched. I could tell that whoever was outside of this old warehouse was not friendly, due to its crazy footsteps. Something underneath me shrugs and I look down. My eyes meet the familiar looking afro that is laying comfortably on my chest.

I think for a little while on if I should wake up Rue or not. I look down again, her face fearless and so innocent at the same time, she looks really comfortable. I feel a surge of hope for this little girl, because here right now as she sleeps she looks so calm, so innocent. And I don't get to see that afraid girl who has seen the horrible things that this world had opened up for her, but instead I see a girl who is slumbering tranquilly, safely, and away from any harm. Which makes me begin to question if this whole world might stop turning for just a little while and let this little girl have the child hood that she actually deserves to have.

I know that I have grown closer to this little girl. After all that we have been through together, protecting each other, caring for each other. I cannot imagine the horrors that she had seen when I was not around. I cannot imagine Prim going through all of that by herself while taking care of me. This girl has found a strong place in my heart and as much as I try to deny it, I cannot. She's like my little sister Prim and for that I feel the need to protect her even more.

She had saved my life once and for that I owe her my own, same as to Peeta.

' _Oh Peeta'_ I think as his face flashes in front of my eyes, his smile, his bright blue oceanic eyes that you can get lost in so easily, his kindness and care.

Peeta had given all of his traits to Rue, I know that for a fact. Rue has probably claimed them from him, because she spent so much time with him.

My lips turn up a little as I look down at the smaller figure below me, sleeping away this entire broken world.

My hand reaches down, and my fingers lace through her black curls, I think about them for a minute.

' _She could get into a lot of trouble from this style of hair'_ I think.

I shrug her a little to wake her and her sleepy eyes spring open seconds later. She looks up at me and smiles faintly.

"Hi" she greets.

"Hey, Rue do you have any elastic bands or hair pins?" I ask, as I sit up.

She looks a little confused at my question, but then nods and reaches down.

"Here, why do you need them?" she asks, as she hands me the baubles.

"I have come to the conclusion that if you have your hair like that, the walkers could easily grab hold of it and then you would be in trouble" I say, as I look down at her.

She slowly sits up and turns around so that her back is now facing me.

"Alright, can you tie it?" she asks as she gives off a huge yawn.

"I don't really know what to do or how to really err do that?" I say, feeling utterly helpless in a situation like this. I know how to tie a braid but creating something on someone else's head makes it kind of weird, except Prims.

She chuckles a little bit to my response.

"You're just tying my hair, relax. Just tie it so that it wouldn't be to… much" she says as she faces the wall.

' _Okay?_ ' I state to myself.

I think for a couple of minutes about what I actually want with this hair, what could protect her from being pulled.

My hands suddenly fly up onto her hair, my eyes focused on her hair pieces.

A couple of minutes fly by and I stop and look at my creation. Her hair is in two small buns on each side, closely compacted together so that she can easily doge without being pulled.

She turns around and grins a little.

My lips curl up a little as I remember that first time I tied Prims hair into two braids just like my mother had taught me. Her huge sweet grin plastered on her face as her hands shot up to feel her braids. I can see it on Rue, I'm sure that when we find Prim. Her and Rue would definitely become good friends.

"Rue, were is Prim and that man, are we going in the right direction?" I ask, as she looks back at me.

She nods and stands up.

"Were going to keep heading east, I heard that it was some type of barn that they may be staying in. but we have to remember that that was around four days ago" she says as she folds the cover.

"Right so we will head out in a couple of minutes okay? Let's just get everything" I state as Rue passes me the messy folded sleeping bag, I hide in in my backpack along with everything that we had left.

"Okay lets go, but you stay close to me okay" I say with a slight strict tone.

She nods softly and I open the door, earning me that loud squeaky screech. I place one foot forward and I scan the area. Except for the dead body lying in the middle soaked with blood, and that very familiar bloody rod, everything seems to look okay.

I sigh a little and I wave to Rue to follow me. We walk out of the half broken down building without looking back, I don't want to look back, and I don't want to see that building anymore.

We breathe in the fresh air as the sun radiates of our sweaty skin. We trek along the back of the building and we start to begin our adventure once again.

I scan the area, my eyes piercing every last bit of soil as we carry on walking. About 2 miles away from the ware house. I turn my head around to see if I could still see the rusty building, but it's gone, swallowed by the depths of the forest, hidden away from anyone or anything.

With leaves scrunching underneath my shoes, I suddenly stop in my tracks when I hear a distant thrumming, my legs moving towards the sound.

Then I see it the turquoise blue cuddled in the dark green depths, sputtering and splashing on every rock that it hits on its way. The suns ray shining down on it, making it glow with delight as it splashes its way down the stream.

Without thinking I step forward into the soft mud, my feet sinking slowly. I gently kneel down, I feel the light touch of cold and dampness as my knees sink beneath the surface. My hands launch into the water cupping it, I lift them up to my mouth. Drinking in the shiny refreshing goodness, I nod for Rue to join me.

That's a way of survival, you find the nearest water source, because without it you will die, it does not matter how much you eat, without hydrating yourself correctly, you'll end up dead. That's one of the most important tips my father had given me before his death.

 **Five Minutes Later…**

We both stop filling ourselves with water and we carry on down East. I hear the beautiful songs that the Jabber Jays sing to one another, they fly around us spilling their sweet lullabies into our ears. I smile a little as I remember when I and my father used to sing to them. My dad had the most beautiful voice that even the birds stopped to listen, he had taught me so many of them, and I remember every single one of them.

"What are they?" Rue asks behind me.

The sides of my lips curl up even more as I turn around to face her.

"Their called Jabber Jays, they were created by some maniacs long ago to spy on their enemies and to hear people's conversations, so that they could send the massages back. But then it all failed and they let them free. You see their not normal birds, they listen closely to what you say and then repeat it, it's truly beautiful, me and my father used to sing to them every day. And sure enough they would stop to listen our voices-"I interrupt myself all of a sudden.

' _I'm in no place to talk about my father'_ I state sternly in my head as irritation grows within me.

Rue looks at me for a minute with her brows raised.

"It's okay I get it, Peeta told me about your voice apparently it's beautiful" she states as she looks up at me with a slight smile.

I tensely nod towards her direction and I carry on walking, stepping on top of a bunch of rocks and leaves I look around. Focusing on the white and brown barks in front of me.

Around ten silent minutes later, Rue calls my name.

"What's this? She asks as she points towards the really tall stems, filled with pointed green leafs and three strict white petals.

My lips turn up a little as I walk towards them, my finger lifts up to them as my eyes take in the flowers.

"Their Katniss flowers" I can't help but smile towards them and then at Rue.

She looks at me in confusion, which makes me smile even wider.

"So you're named after a plant?" she asks as her brows creases in confusion, but her grin stays put.

I let out a loud laugh that rumbled deep within my stomach, I have not laughed in such a long time that it almost feels strange for such a thing to happen.

"Well if you put it that way" I chuckle a little more at her statement.

It's quite a miracle how this little girl can brighten up a mood in seconds. The only person that could do that was Prim, but now Rue had somehow managed. 'She was just brought up well by Peeta' I thought, because she had stated quite clearly that her parents weren't around, but Peeta was.

And for that sake my grin turns wider making my mouth hurt.

"Well… I can't say much for Peeta, I mean he was named after bread" she laughs. Her whole body erupts in happiness as she carries on giggling. The sound becoming almost familiar to the ear.

At this small moment I feel hope. It hits me out of nowhere, but seeing Rue happy like that makes my heart thump in joyfulness. Because for a little girl who had just lost her family and everything around her, she is coping quite well with it. She's so strong for such a tiny figure, I am all of a sudden so proud and glad to have her stumble upon me even though it wasn't the best first greeting.

"My father always used to say that as long as I find myself I will never starve. And he was right" I say as my fingertips slightly trace the smooth petals on the flower.

I turn my eyes and she gives me a genuine kind smile with just the right touch of innocence.

"Come on lets go find my sister" I say.

We carry on making our way through the dense forest when I hear some random, rickety footwork, a bunch actually.

I stop in my tracks and my body moves to the left towards this huge brown tree, with Rue reading my actions she flings herself towards the other tree to my right. I give her a reassuring nod and I take a slight peek from the side of the abnormally large tree. And I see a bunch of dark figures walking meaninglessly everywhere.

I crease my brow further as I focus on the figures, soon realising that it is a horde of walkers. And that they are heading straight for us. My legs start to feel numb underneath me as worry and panic gush through me. I look towards a now terrified Rue, her huge eyes bulging out back at me filled with apprehension.

My index finger lifts up and lands on my mouth as I wave to Rue for her to come over to my side. She looks at me weirdly as if I'm crazy. I roll my eyes as I glance for the second time, their getting closer.

My eyes turn towards Rue once again, I wave for her more desperately this time. She looks at me and then towards the horde of walkers, and the back at me again. She steps forward and the leaves scrunch underneath her, loud. It causes my forehead to crease a bit. I take another glance at the walkers, they are walking much faster now.

' _Crap_ ' I thought in fear.

Rue takes another step forward as more leaves scrunch underneath her. We hear an enormous grunt all of a sudden and without thinking I launch forward and scream for Rue to run again.

They all turned their attention on to us, I could hear louder scrunches, as my feet pounded the ground. I take a glance back to see Rue a few metres back. I slow down for a second to let her catch up to me.

We frantically meander through lengths and lengths of trees, panting like crazy. Occasionally tripping over the roots of the trees. My eyes scan the area and they stop on some type of fire in the distance. Without trusting whoever was there ' _hunter instincts'_ I grab Rue by her arm and I pull her down into a distant bush. Since we had outran the horde of walkers, they didn't get to see where we hid.

I hear them stumbling along into the light, their jagged and hideous features coming to view.

I soon hear screaming. It was a combination of screams, male and female. I hear the distant ' _kill it!_ ', ' _Get it away from me_!', and ' _what the fucks!?_ '

I gaze down at Rue and my hands fly up to her ears, to guard her away from the terror that is going on down there.

After what seems like forever the screams and groans die down. My hands fall from Rues ears and I take a peek over the bush. I see what looks like around 20 dead bodies lying on the ground, and blood smeared everywhere. I try to swallow down my beans I ate yesterday as I look at the standing figures. There are two females. One blonde who has two braids hanging down her chest, dressed in all black. The other one had dark black hair tightly wrapped up, with an angry look on her face which made me contemplate on whether we should go now or not. And there are two tall males, one guy with light brown hair which is hunched over a corpse, stabbing it wildly, I quickly learn that his name is Marvel when the other tall man called Cato drags him away. Cato has blonde spikey hair with an enraged look smeared over his features, a huge build, he could crush me so easily if he wanted to.

They trek around the place furiously.

"For god's sakes! can something go well once in a while, look at this!" The blonde girl states in fury, waving her hands about everywhere.

"Shut up Glimmer not now, someone set us up" Cato grunts.

' _Glimmer? What I weird name to name your own child'_ I thought to myself.

"Whoever it was, they must be close, they couldn't have gone too far" The girl with black hair spoke up.

I see as Marvels face go pale "OH their still around, they killed my friend for fucks sake! I'm going to kill them personally!" he shouts as he faintly scans the whole area, and looks towards my direction.

My breath caught in my throat as we made brief eye contact, but then he brushes it of as if he didn't notice me.

"Keep it down you idiot! Do you want more of them to come?" Cato shouts towards Marvel.

"Let's go around for a search" Cato states as they begin to split up.

And with that I look down at Rue. Sweat racing down her forehead, she looks alarmed and terrified at the same time. She starts to breath really loud, too loud. So I cover her mouth with my hand and we move backwards while still ducking. I look quickly for an escape route and I see a darkened area on the right.

' _That's it'_ I thought.

"Were going to head for those trees down there where it's really dark, do you see it?" I state as my index finger points to our right, into my desired target.

Her eyes follow my finger and she scrunches up her face.

"What if we don't make it and they catch us?" she asks with worry coated all over her face.

My hand lifts up to her shoulder, "nothing is going to happen to us, I have promised remember? I will not let anything happen to you" I say.

It's true, this girl had saved my life and I owe her a big one for that. I will not let any harm come by her, I will keep Peeta's promise.

She looks tense at first but then her face relaxes a little.

"I trust you" she whispers.

I nod towards her as I look towards our destination. I hear rustling behind us and we both move to the left. My heart pounding I see the tip of Cato hair walking past the bush that we had hidden in. my eyes follow him as he disappears past a set of trees. I take one more glance around just in case.

' _It's clear'_ I think as I rise a little.

"Okay Rue-"I get cut of when her hand slides into mine. She nods towards me. I squint my eyes towards the other side of the forest and we begin moving. With hardly any leaves scrunching underneath us we make a beeline towards the darkened part of the trees. We crash into the darkness and we both hide behind the trees.

' _We made it?_ ' I ask myself in disbelief as I let out a long breath which I didn't even know I was holding.

I look to my left, Rue stands with her back resting on the long brown bark, with her hands placed securely on her legs.

My eyes spin around to look at the group. Their gathered in a bunch, probably questioning each other, if anyone saw the _'intruders who had brought a bunch of walkers upon them'_.

Without wasting another minute, I wave for Rues attention, she looks towards me with a victorious smile. I nod over to the right for her to follow me. I don't want to spend another minute here with those people, and I am sure Rue wound not like their company either. Rue nods and follows me and we both carry on walking through the dense forest with the sun already setting.

We carry on strolling for a good half an hour when I suddenly hear a loud thump. My body turns back towards the sound and I look down to see Rue on the floor, with an apologetic look written all over her eyes.

I chuckle a little at the scenery in front of me. Even though were in a very, very dangerous situation right now, I can't help but smile a little to see Rue lying on her side covered in mud. Just like that one time where my little sister Prim was still a toddler and my father decided that it would be a good idea to let Prim walk out into the pouring rain. Which ended up with her plastered with mud from head to toe, grinning widely when she came back home. My mother was horrified when she saw her that day.

"Are you okay?" I ask as I head towards her.

I bring my hand up to hers and she takes it. She stumbles up onto her feet and stretches out, her cheeks turning a shade of red with embarrassment.

"Yeah I guess I'm good now" she mumbles as she tries to shake of the mud from her pants.

I chuckle a little more, finding this very amusing.

"You know, this happens to everyone. Especially to my little sister Prim, I swear she is the clumsiest person ever. You will see what I mean when we find them" she smiles a little towards me as her hands slide up and down the sides of her dark green shirt, making it ten times darker.

"Come on lets go it's getting late" I say as I start walking again.

Hearing the leaves scrunch behind me I carry on moving forward.

A couple of minutes later

My legs start to throb as I look up. I see an old brown cabin in the distance. I look to my right and see that Rue acknowledges it to. We start heading towards it faster.

' _We can take our chances, if it all goes well then we can finally sleep'_ I think as we reach the door.

I glace down at Rue and she gives me a reassuring nod. I slowly open door and with my own surprise … no squeaking sounds come from it. An unsettling feeling welcomes my stomach.

' _A person must live here'_ my thoughts are corrected when we enter inside. There are candles that luminate the tiny room, the walls are made from fresh wood and the floors look clean and polished. I step forwards for Rue to enter in. I close the door behind us as I set of for the fire pit on the left. I crouch down and I take of my bow and arrows along with my old bag.

Zipping it open I grab the match box and I slide one stick out. I look around and see some plain paper lying on the coffee table in the centre of the room. I grab it and I light it with the match. I place the now burning paper into the fire pit and it soon erupts in a huge flame, dancing everywhere.

"Wow what's this?" I hear Rue ask in excitement.

I stand up and I stretch my aching legs a little as I follow her voice to my left. I walk towards her figure as she slouches over something.

I see her pointing towards something grey on the wooden desk.

I come closer to her and I inspect the item, my brow raises a little as I suddenly realise what it is.

"It's a polaroid camera, I never had one but I sure saw them a bunch of times" I say as I pick up the dark grey camera, rolling it around my fingers.

"A polaroid camera?" Rue repeats in wonder.

I look down towards her, "yeah look I'll show you, I saw people do this a couple of times" I say as I turn it on.

I face it towards her and my index finger hovers over the top button, which I click seconds later. As I snap the photo the room lumiate's for a second and Rue covers her eyes.

"That's so bright" she states.

The sides of my lips turn up as the photo rolls out of the bottom of the camera, Rue watches in curiosity as my hand sticks out to take the photo.

"Here you go your own photograph" I say as I give the picture to Rue, she takes it with glee.

She flips the photograph around, and her brows shoot up in puzzlement.

"I mean it's all so cool but it's all blurry" she says with a frown.

"Just shake the paper a little" I say towards her.

She obliges and shakes the photo for a couple of seconds, while giving me weird looks which I can't help but smirk to.

After a couple of seconds she flips the paper over again and her eyes widen.

"That's so awesome! look I'm on it" she giggles a little as she shows me the photograph.

"Yeah it is pretty cool, we could never afford it so it's nice to use it for free" I state.

She giggle a little more and then looks at the camera and back at me.

"Let's take one together" she asks.

"No" I say without even thinking.

She looks a taken a back, just like Peeta had back at the school.

' _They're so similar'_ I thought.

"Yes" Rue states and walks closer to me.

"No"

"Yes!"

"Fine" I sigh defeated.

She grins wildly, "It'll be fun"

I take the camera from her hand and I lift it up a little, as Rue stands next to me with a huge grin plastered on her face, showing off her white bright pearls. My lips turn up and I snap the photo blinding both of us in process.

I hear the lazy sound from the polaroid and I take the photo out, I shake it a little and flip it over. And the two of us look down at it. We both look really happy, confident, and strong in the picture. It's as if the world is still orbiting normally all around us and there are no flesh eaters trying to kill you every second you catch your breath.

"Prim would have enjoyed this" I say as we both stare at the photo.

"I bet she would because I sure like it" Rue laughs as she looks at me.

"You can have it" I say as I pass the photograph over to her.

"Really?" she asks.

"Yeah why not, keep it" I say as she takes it and hides it in her pocket.

I walk away for a second to my old bag in the corner and I pull out the dried beef strips. I spin around and I walk back to Rue.

"Want one?" I ask as I pass one to her.

She smiles and bites into it, happiness wiping all over her face.

"I don't want to ask the same questions but how does Prim really look like" she asks as she chews on her dry strip.

"She's around your age, same height as you with bright blonde hair, followed by bright blue oceanic eyes pretty much like Peeta's. She is the kindest girl you will ever meet and quite the chatter box too. Basically she is nothing like me" I smile.

"Literally you would not even think that we are sisters at all, she looks more related to Peeta than to myself. She was just the one who got my mothers genes and I was the one who got my father's it's kind of crazy but really beautiful at the same time" I finish with a soft smile.

"She sounds like a nice person" Rue states.

"Yeah she is, you guys would become great friends for sure" I say.

"I can't wait!" Rue grins wildly as she stands up.

' _Me either_ -' I think as I get interrupted by loud screaming and grumbles outside our door.

I look down towards Rue with wide eyes. Then without any thought I launch for my bow and arrows and my old bag, I run back to grab Rues hand and we rush into the nearest small room on our right behind us.

We make it inside just in time as the door slams open, a furious Cato appears.

"Where the hell did they come from!" he shouts.

I hear a bunch of chairs and tables move around.

"It won't hold!" I hear Marvels voice roar out as the door starts to thud really hard.

"Their getting in!" Cato yells as the shuffling of shoes becomes louder.

I look down towards Rue, her eyes are filling with tears and her face reddens by the second. I mouth to her that its ' _going to be okay'_ \- but soon we get disturbed by gun shots. We both jump at the sound and Rue runs up to the side of me.

"What the fuck are you doing? Save them you idiot" Cato howls.

"They're in!" Glimmer screams.

"Run!" Cato shouts as I hear doors slam shut.

My heart suddenly drops to my stomach as a panicked Marvel bursts through the wooden door and slams it behind himself. He makes dead eye contact with me.

"You" he says as he gives me a hideous grin.

I scrunch my brows into a scowl, fear and anger bubbling inside of me, as my heart pounded fifty times faster than normal. I try to shield away Rue with my hand.

"Do you really think that I didn't see you back there? my friend died because of you, so to pay him back the honour, I'm going to kill you, personally!" and with that he whips out the silver metal from his side and points it at me pulling the trigger.

I close my eyes, as I breathed in, ready for the impact.

Then I hear a soft grunt, expecting a bullet to pierce my body I open my eyes.

But instead I see a small innocent figure with those two familiar looking buns in front of me, she looks down slowly, as the back of her dark green shirt begins to turn red.

Her legs tremble as her knees crumple underneath her.

My eyes flood with tears as I launch forward, she falls on top of my arms as she gurgles up fresh blood. I begin shaking with confusion and fury as I look up.

Marvel points the gun at me again but before he fires, I swing the bow around me and I fire the arrow straight into Marvels throat, he looks at me with wide eyes for a second as he collapses down onto the ground hard.


	7. Guilt

**Authors Note:** **I am so sorry for posting so late in the day but since school had started again I have concentrated more on the work. But thank you again for keeping up with this story, if you are. No worries I will still post on Tuesdays but probably a little later in the day. Anyway enjoy this chapter, it is not as long but I'm sure its fine.**

 **Disclaimer** **\- I do not own any of the hunger games characters or story, all of the credit goes to Suzanne Collins.**

I stare in shock as the blood in front of my slowly glides its way towards my feet. I could not move no matter how hard I had tried, no matter how much force I had put in my body I could not move a single limb. My state of panic only grew bigger when I could sense the smell of smoke. I blink slowly as my eyes peer down towards the crack in the door.

The grey sheet of smoke slowly flowing through the gap gracefully, planting its self around the room. ' _Maybe my mind is playing with me'_ I thought to myself, maybe this is all just a bad dream and I am desperately trying to wake up.

Then sudden movement in my arms breaks my train of thoughts. I look down slowly. This was certainly not a bad dream, and my mind was definitely not playing with me. I see her lying almost lifelessly in my arms as she peers up at me with her huge brown eyes making my heart clench in fear and dread. I lift my hand up which is now covered in Rues pool of blood. I slowly wipe that tiny tear that had fallen down her cheek as she coughs up more blood. The bulge in my throat rises as I fight my tears back.

My eyes drop down to her soaked shirt. Her stomach lifts up painfully as my hand lifts up it a little, se whines in pain as my eyes scan her stomach with is now turning a dark purple colour. My heart tightens as my eyes stop on the blood gushing hole.

"H-how… I-is it?" se blurts out between deep breaths.

My vision turns blurry as I turn my eyes towards her.

"You'll be… you'll be okay, you're okay" I choke out though my clenched throat.

I look everywhere but her, it hurts, it hurts way too much to face her, to tell her that everything is going to be okay, that she is okay, that we are going to get out of here and she will live.

My bottom lip twitches a little as I think of other possibilities.

Then the sound of loud thudding jolts me awake, I look towards the door as it begins to set on fire. I do nothing but stare as the fire slowly begins to make its way towards me and Rue.

' _We have to get out of here'_ the voice in my head screams at me, begging me to move.

I just couldn't, I watch as Marvels body slowly begins to burn, the flesh bubbling angrily as its being feasted on by the flames.

The smell hits my nostrils like a punch in the face.

I look down as Rues eyes slowly begin to turn cloudy, I begin to panic as my hands slide underneath her neck and legs. I pick her up with all my might as Rue whimpers loudly in pain, making my stomach ache with guilt.

I look at the window behind us and I throw it open. I carefully slide Rue through it as she screeches in pain. My eyes slam shut as I start whispering a bunch of incoherent words. The sudden jolt of pain in my thigh makes me spin around in confusion, only to see that it is slowly beginning engulfed by flames. I try to kick it of as I look up, the huge wave's flames burn through my irises causing me to squint. I knew at that moment that I was late and the room had already been devoured in flames.

Knowing that this would be my last opportunity to escape, I turn around again and I scramble though the window, just in time as the door swings loudly open sending a huge heat wave towards me. I see him, his eyes ring with rage as he looks towards marvel and then back towards me. It was Cato, I look at him with just the same amount of anger as I slide out the window.

I collide with the earth, with so much force that I'm sure that my left arm is probably dead. I hear a loud disturbing scream coming from the inside of the building and my only guess is that one of the girls didn't make it.

I struggle up on my feet and I take Rues body in my arms, I stammer towards the woods away from the cabin which had now completely been engulfed in flames.

I stumble forward tripping up on a couple of roots until I drop to my feet, feeling hopeless just like I has in my dream. I place Rue down. I look at her with guilt as sweat drips of my forehead. I take in her innocent face as it begins to turn paler by the second, her lip trembles as she stares right at me.

My right hand touches her cheek as I look back at her. She regains control over her lips for a second and she smiles a little.

I want to scream as the blob in my throat becomes unbearable, I want to let the whole world know that this is not how everything was supposed to go. She is too innocent to kind hearted to be taken away so fast.

Rue nudges her shoulder a little as she whines. Determined, her hand slowly makes its way towards her coat pocket. She grabs something and places it lightly in my hand. My brows turn down in confusion as I flip the now bloody paper. As soon as my eyes scan the picture, I could not contain it anymore. The blob in my throat suddenly breaks and I burst into tears. With my eyes now blurry I take in the image of me and Rue standing in the cabin grinning wildly.

I stare at the photo as it slowly soaks with my tears causing the ink to spread a little, I begin shaking my head side to side as I frantically push the paper back to Rue, desperately telling her that she is going to be okay and how stupid this is.

I will not lose her I have made a promise to her, to myself and to Peeta that I will keep her alive, and I am definitely not letting her go just like I had with Peeta.

Her hand lightly lifts on top of mine and I grab it with force whimpering like a maniac. Her face now completely sick without any colour, her eyes loosing that enthusiastic brown that she had every time she found out something new, replacing it with stone cold ones.

She's about to say something when she gurgles up more blood, I start growing hysterical as my hand flies up to her mouth to wipe it.

Every single shared moment of me and Rue flash in front of my eyes like bright stars, as I see the life slowly slipping away from her eyes, her sparkly personality slowly dripping away from her. I felt a huge weight on my chest, so much that I could hardly catch my breath. The fear of losing this girl hitting me like a truck. I scrunch my face as more tears rain down my cheeks.

"Katniss?" she blurts out spitting blood.

Feeling delusional, my eyes blink towards Rues.

Her breath hitches, "c-could you te-tell P-Peeta that I… that I lied a-about the watermelon cake?"

My brows scrunch in more confusion as I stare at her in bewilderment.

She smiles a little, "I-I loved the idea"

I hold her hand tighter, to show her that I'm not going anywhere, that she will get through this, that we will both get through this together. I watch gloomily as her eyes gently trail up, disconnecting from my own. I slowly notice the light from them fade as her hand turns cold in my grasp. I frantically beg for her to stay with me, to not leave me in this horrifying world alone, to not move on so early. She has so much to see, to experience, to feel. And it has all been snatched away from her in the most inhumane way possible.

My thoughts suddenly stop when Rues hand slowly releases from my own hitting the ground causing a distant echo through my confused mind, I watch her lifeless body lay in my arms.

So pure, so innocent, so young. Now she is here gone, ruined, demolished by such hatred.

My head beings to throb hard as I watch her with wide blank eyes filled with confusion.

The wind slicing its way through the utter silence, I sniffle back my tears.

"If I could id breathe for you, Rue" I whisper into her ear, as more tears run down my cheeks.

I have so many questions yet to ask her, to show her, to teach her. Why did she do this? why would she jump in front of me? Why did she feel that my life was worth a lot more than hers? All these questions scream in my mind.

Guilt wraps my body in an instant, I didn't even get to thank her for saving my life. For being there when I felt lost, when I felt that all my hope had been lost. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that she'll never be able to laugh and smile again. That I'll never get to hear her voice or see her play round with Prim and other people that she might have been friends with. I hated myself, it was my fault I broke a promise that was meant to be kept. Now in result she lays here, dead. Because she had saved my life once again.

Without thinking I softly start singing a lullaby that my father had once used to make me fall asleep.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow"

As I sing these beautiful words, my fingers trace back a strand from her hair. She looks so peaceful in this cruel world.

I finish the song as I put Rue down on the ground lightly, since she had been lying on my thighs. I get up on my feet and I look down at her with puffy eyes. The sudden cracking sounds from a few metres in front of us breaks my delusional state. My eyes snap up and I see them. To my complete horror I freeze.

' _They didn't die?'_ I question myself in disbelief.

I look towards Rue in panic. Thinking of how I could possibly move her or run with her. But as much my mind tells me to run and leave her, I stay, and I watch as they get closer.

' _I don't care anymore I'm as good as dead anyway, maybe it would be better if I die anyway'_ I think, as they are about ten metres in front of me.

As I brace for the impact, the sudden flash of Prim shoots into my mind, how would she survive if she had found out that she had lost her sister, what would she do without me. Rue wouldn't want me to do this either.

I turn my head to focus on them and my brows knit close. I crouch down and I look at Rue again, with her eyes closed shut I move my face closer and I lightly kiss her on the forehead. My heart clenches in pain as I slowly get back up. I look at sweet innocent Rue for the last time as I use all of my power to turn and head back into the forest, leaving her laying there, sleeping.

I run as fast as I can without looking back, my tears making a reappearance all over again. I dash through the bushes, pounding my feet into the hard mud beneath me.

I crash into a tree a few minutes later and I slide down it, I try to get rid of the shock and guilt that had attacked me.

' _I had no other choice'_ I think in my head, as I wipe of the painful tears that are falling down my face. I look up hysterically as my brain processes everything that I had done.

' _What have I done'_ I think of other possibilities of how this could have gone, but I end up with nothing.

And so I sit there crumbled together, broken as I cry in complete silence.

 **One Hour Later**

I trek across the long dusty pathway as I see a small hut in front of me, I stop in my tracks as in appears and I scan the area not trusting places like these anymore. I slowly make my way around the hut and I inspect it. It's made out of oak wood with a tiny door placed straight in the middle of it.

I walk towards it and I give it three hard knocks.

Nothing.

I grab the handle and I twist it slowly to the right. I step in only to see a small figure right in the middle of the place. The faint light just showing its features. It was a child, it had long blonde curls with a blue shirt and black shorts. I quickly come to the terms that it was a little girl no older than five.

Without thinking I speak up.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask as I step closer to her, closing the door lightly behind me. I hear it click behind me quietly.

She twitches a little to my response, with her neck snapping a little.

I scrunch my brows further as I step closer.

"Are you alone? Where are your parents?" I speak up.

Then she turns around. And my eyes grow wide. Her skin is as pale as snow. Bloodshot eyes with blood dripping dangerously from her mouth. Her clothes ripped up as if she had been attacked by a huge crowd violently.

" _No please God….no…_ " I silently beg, my last bit of hope fading away.

My eye twitches a little as my hands come around to grab my bow and arrow. I position the bow and I pull the string back. I grow helpless at this moment, I don't know if I can take this anymore.

"Please… say something?" I plead towards the small figure, as she stumbles innocently but deadly towards me.

My heart drops to my stomach when I heard no reply, I slowly aim the bow and arrow at her head. Hearing only my breath and the fait thumps of my heart I slowly close my eyes when I snap the bow, letting it slice through the air straight into my target.

I hear the gentle thud when she collides to the floor. I open my eyes as I watch her small figure lie on the ground, dead.

My eye twitches as I watch it lay there. I feel a surge of emptiness. I just stole another life, snatching her soul away from her young body. Just like I had with Rue.

' _Am I slowly going insane?'_ I ask myself, as I walk forward without even looking at the corpse on the ground. I barge in through the closest door and I slam it shut behind me, I throw the bow on the floor, creating a loud clang which echoes in my head. I soon realise that everything that I had in my bag has burned down in the ruins.

Feeling completely bewildered and angry I look down at the throbbing pain that is coming from my thigh. I find a huge patch of flesh that had been burned in the fire. I touch it and I groan in pain.

' _Shit'_ I think, as I look around the room.

I see another wooden door and without thinking I walk towards it. I turn the knob. Closing the door behind me I'm met with the bathroom.

With the toilet and bath placed on the right, my throbbing head turns towards the left and I see the sink with a cabinet underneath it and a mirror on top of it. I step towards the mirror and I swing it open.

I scan through the products only to find a bunch of painkillers and other medicines. I grab the packet of pain killers and I pop some in my mouth and I wish it down with water. I slowly crouch down towards the cabinet as the pain from my thigh shoots up like a bullet. I look through the cramped cabinet in a hurry and I find a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a couple of bandages.

' _This will have to do'_ I think.

I quickly grab the fabric from my pants and I slide it down my legs only to win me a huge groan when it slides past the burnt area.

I grab the alcohol, and with my free hand I put the bandage in my mouth to muffle my voice.

I open the alcohol bottle and I pour the load of it on my burnt thigh. Feeling the overwhelming burn ride up all through my body I scream into the bandage, squinting my eyes in pain, I breathe in deeply through my nostrils

I do this a couple of times until it looks clean enough. With sweat dripping of my forehead I spit out the bandage and I begin wrapping it around my leg. I sigh as I feel lightheaded.

' _This may stop it from getting infected'_ I think as my headache gets stronger.

With my eyes slowly shutting on their own, I step back. I slide down the wall, and I breathe in heavily as my eyes close slam shut engulfing me with pure darkness.


	8. The Way Things Go By

**Authors Note:** **Thank You for keeping up with this story so far, it really does help a lot because it makes me want to carry on writing it. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter 8! And please feel free to comment, I love reading them. And please if anyone has ideas on what they want to happen in this story feel free to message me and ill consider it** **but anyway hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all next Tuesday**.

* **And finally as I had written this chapter this song Arsonist's lullaby by hozier really set the atmosphere for me, it a really good song.**

 **Disclaimer** **\- I do not own any of the hunger games characters or story, all of the credit goes to Suzanne Collins.**

' _I climb along the wet boulders outside in the green forest as the fresh air restores my lungs. The familiar sounds of birds singing lullabies around me cause me to flip my eyes up to the sky. It's clear, and so innocent with the suns heat hitting my face, my left hand flies up to cover my eyes. I look as the wind lightly tugs on the branches, as the soft breeze hits my sweaty olive skin._

 _The relief from the breeze hitting me forms a smile on my lips as I look around. I take a deep breath as my eyes slowly shut._

 _I slide of the boulder and I crouch down. My fingers slowly trace the ground and I grip some leaves. Wigging them around with my fingers, I send some of them into the air only to see them collide with the ground seconds later. I detect the sogginess from them and I know instantly that I'm close to a river. I stand up and I start stepping on the wet patches on the soil._

 _A couple of seconds later I hear the familiar sound of rushing water and I burst through the leaves only to be met by a very long rushing blue river. Sending of a victorious chuckle I bend down to drink. I gaze down at the water as my reflection stares right back at me. I don't look broken or miserable or unhappy. I look almost happy with no scars on my face or arms, I am just who I am. I give myself a lopsided grin, and my hands plunge into the water._

 _The sudden movement in one of the bushes in front of me startles me. My eyes peer up as I watch a squirrel hop of the tree. It was as if I had worked on instinct, my hands swung to the side of me. And soon I held my bow and arrow in my hands positioned directly onto the squirrel, I breathe in slowly as my eyes focus directly on my target, as I am about to release the arrow I get interrupted by a voice._

" _Are you going to kill that to?"_

 _I slowly lower the bow as I blankly stare at the squirrel that had now jumped back on the tree. I knew that voice, I knew from who it came from. I hear the leaves scrunch loudly behind me, I knew it was Peeta, because he was the only guy that I knew who had really loud footsteps. I slowly stand up as I carry on staring forward not daring to look back, to see is face again, and to see those oceanic eyes again._

' _This is not real' I kept repeating over and over in my head, as his footsteps got dangerously close._

 _He's not here, my mind is playing with me again. My breath suddenly hitches when his footsteps stop. I could hear my own heart beating nervously in my chest, as my eyes strain on the sound coming from behind. My lips straighten as my jaw clenches a little._

 _Then I feel a light hand on my shoulder. My heart stops for a second._

" _Katniss?" His voice had a hint of worry, as he asked with confusion._

 _My eyes start to tear up with anger and confusion as I turn around slowly. I come face to face with no one other than Peeta. His hair is a mess of blonde long locks and his lips are turned upside down. His eyes show specks of worry just like his voice had. The blue from his eyes had all but ran away and left them with a dull stone colour which made my heart ache in guilt._

 _I blink slowly, speechlessly as he shuffles on his feet._

" _Katniss? Are you okay?"_

 _I start nodding side to side as I think back to our school, and how he didn't make it. He's dead, I saw him die, the building toppled over him, and I saw it with my own eyes! This can't be real._

" _You're not real" I blurt out as take a step back away from him, lightly touching the river._

 _The colour of is eyes drain even more as they turn into hurt. He looks upset as he tries to find my eyes. My chest tightens even harder than before as I watch his every move._

" _Katniss?"_

 _I stare at him with disbelief, my hand flies up to my face to wipe a tear that had fallen own my cheek. I feel my eye twitch as the blob in my throat rises._

" _You were dead, I know you are I saw you die twice!" I shout as more tears fill my eyes._

 _I feel a rush of surprise when his eyes fill with tears to, his face turns red as his frown deepens. He doesn't look away but right back at me, right into my torn soul._

 _This goes on for a couple of minutes until my patience flared, I turn to my left and I start walking away, I felt his eyes burn straight into my back. I could not handle the pain and guilt this boy had made me feel. I felt empty, I had lost him and Rue and now I'm stuck in this nightmare of a dream once again, begging myself to wake up._

" _Wait!" His voice almost sounded desperate._

 _I stop in my track as I look back. He runs up to me and stops a couple of inches away._

" _I'm right… here" He states as his eyes blur from his tears._

 _My chin trembles as the feeling of emptiness grows inside of me, I look at him with guilt as I slowly begin nodding my head side to side, my fists tightening._

" _No… no you're not" I whisper lightly, as a tear runs down my right cheek._

 _His brows crease as he hesitantly steps closer to me._

" _Then let me show you?" He pleads as he lowers his face to mine._

 _My stomach clenched as I found myself leaning in closer. Peeta somehow had always made me feel weird? In like a good way. As much as I could try to describe it, it would not make any sense. It was always that simple brush of a hand or a smile or his voice that made my stomach turn. But this time it was different, my heart didn't clench in a way that made my blood run warm but instead it clenched in fear and made me freeze. He didn't have that familiar scent of cinnamon and something else special, but instead he smelled like blood and death._

 _As my lips were about to touch his I stopped. My eyes opened wide as I was met with the all too familiar bloodshot ones. His skin had turned an ill grey as his blonde locks fell from his head. I shoot my head back as I push him away with all the power that I had left._

 _His eyes grew angry with disappointment as he stumbled back._

" _Goodbye Peeta" I choke out as I spin around. I didn't want to hurt him, I didn't want to live with more pain._

 _I hear a loud groan behind me as I hear his footsteps stumble closer to me. My ears focus on the sound of crunching leaves._

 _I hear his footsteps inches behind me now. I stop in my tracks instead of running. I'm done with this pain which I cannot take any longer. My legs betray me and I fall to my feet. My eyes shoot forward as I wait for him to arrive. It took less than two seconds when I felt his teeth sink into the depth_ s _of my throat.'_

I jump awake as the pain from my thigh throbs sending a wave of pain into my head. My hair sticks to my forehead as my shirt clings to me in sweat. My hands fly up to my hair to push my strands back. My heart beats abnormally fast as my eyes scan around the place which I'm in. My hand lifts up quickly towards my neck. I sigh.

' _It was just a dream'_ I think to myself.

I come to the terms that I'm inside a bathroom, I must have fallen asleep here when I cleaned up my leg.

I look down at my right thigh and I notice that the bandage is soaked with green and red.

' _This can't be good'_ I thought to myself.

I take the wet bandage of slowly and I make sure to not vomit in my own mouth as I look at the puss that had formed from my burnt area. I stand up quickly grabbing the bottle of alcohol that had laid next to me as the pain throbs harder in my thigh. I limp towards the sink and I lift my leg up so that my thigh is now resting on top of the sink. I lightly wash the puss away with water as I try not to muffle my groan.

It takes me about five minutes to wash away the puss. I finally manage to get to the angry red burnt area on my thigh. With my other free hand I pop open the bottle of alcohol and I take a swig, I feel the liquid burn down my throat as I cough in dissatisfaction.

' _How do people even drink this stuff?_ ' I question myself in distaste.

I take a long breath as I pour the alcohol on to my thigh. I slam my eyes shut as it begins to burn up my leg, making me feel lightheaded. I wait until the stinging turned milder and then I pour some more, creating another wave of pain through my body.

Sweat drips of my forehead as I mumble a bunch of swear words. I finish up with the alcohol and I place my throbbing leg on the ground. I limp towards the wall which I had fallen asleep next to and I pick up the left over fresh bandage. I pour alcohol on top of the rough material as the rest of the liquid splashes on the floor, and I wrap it around my thigh.

Relief hits me when I'm done, my eyes scan the room for my pants. I see them lying on the left side corner of the bathroom and I go to grab them. I slide them up my legs and I make sure to not touch my burnt area like I did last time.

A couple of minutes pass by as I find myself limping towards the mirror centred right on my left. I look at the reflected figure in front of it. It looks tired, broken and pale. I pretty much look like shit. My jaw clenches as the emptiness and anger grows within me.

' _Damn it Katniss! Get your head out of your ass and get the hell out of here!_ ' the voice in my head shouts.

I turn my head to the side and I see the wooden oak door. My hand lifts to wipe the sweat of my head as the other pulls my sticky shirt from my body to give me some air. My eyes scan the floor and they stop on my bow and arrow. I lightly limp towards it, I bend down and I grab it.

Slinging it across my shoulder I grab the door handle. I twist it slowly to the right. Hearing it click behind me I look forward. The sun beams straight into my irises through the windows in the living room. My right hand raises to cover the light from my eyes as I look into the room. I stop on the figure lying on the floor. Feeling hallow I walk towards it only to pull out my arrow from its head, making me feel sick. I step back and I turn towards the kitchen on the right.

 **Ten Minutes Later.**

I managed to grab a deserted old apple and a water bottle, since the rest of the stock had been rummaged through by different people. I crouch down in front of the last cabinet and I open it up. I find a small leather bag which has the name Lucy written on top of it in bold yellow letters. I crease my brow as I can only imagen that it was the little girl's bag. I open it up and I find a pink letter. I take it out and I read it.

'Hey sweetheart,

I guess you have found your birthday present already! Happy Birthday baby, mummy and daddy love you so, so much!

Were sorry that we cannot be here because the flight has delayed but aunty Monica is here so she can celebrate with you too!

We love you so much Lucy I hope you love this bag since you did want it and we will be back very, very soon!

Love, mum and dad'

I slowly close the letter as I stare blankly at the bag. After a couple of seconds I pick it out and I zip it open placing the water bottle and apple inside it. I zip it up again and I head out from the kitchen. I slowly limp towards the corpse on the ground. Blinking slowly towards her I place the letter on her chest. With once last glance I stumble out the house.

As soon as I am outside I take a deep breath in and I look at my surroundings, all I see is just the dense forest. I turn to the left and I start limping my way through the green depths. As I cross by a couple of trees the pain in my leg seemed to get milder, so I try to walk on it normally but that resulted in pain shooting straight up into my head, I wince as I cross over more roots.

' _Better off to not walk on it'_ I think as I limp once more.

 **A Couple of Minutes Later**.

My feet keep on dragging me through the wet grass as I sling my bag over my shoulder for the tenth time since it keeps sliding off. I keep a pace until my feet hit concrete instead, I pause and I use this time as a stop for myself. I slowly bend my knees down and I hit the ground. I straighten my right leg out as I cross my left one. My hand swings the bag from my shoulders and I take out the water bottle.

Popping the cap open I take a huge gulp, as the cold liquid makes its way down my throat my eyes scan the area.

' _I'm on a road_ ' I thought to myself as I saw tyre marks along the concrete.

My eyes follow up the dark black marks until they stop on a left over green rusty pickup truck. I crease my brows as I watch the car. I finish up with drinking and I stand back up winning me a small groan from the pain. I place the water bottle into the bag and I sling it across my shoulder, I start limping my way towards the car.

Not trusting anyone or anything any more I take out my bow and arrow and I scan the whole area. Nothing.

' _Well that's nothing new'_ I thought as I got closer to the car. It was placed on the side of the road, it most probably swerved out of control I guessed from the skid marks on the road.

I walk up to the wheels of the car quietly as my hand flies up on top of the tyre.

' _Still warm, they shouldn't have gone far'_ I think to myself as I drop my hand to my side.

My eyes gaze to the right towards the woods as the sudden sound of stirring grabs my attention. It had come from inside the car. My heart starts pounding faster as I slowly tip toe towards the door. I position my bow up as I take a peek inside from the side middle window, my eyes acknowledge some dark short hair and a grey sweater.

Scowling to myself I step to the front door, breathing in I swing it open only to find blood smeared all over the dashboard and window. Growing sick I look towards the figure. I position my bow towards it as I pull the string back.

"Hell…hello?" I ask sternly as I stare at the figure.

It spins around fast as it stares up at me in fear. It was a middle aged man. He had bright green eyes and a really sharp pointy nose, he had blood smeared all over his paling face and his hand was covering his wrist.

"Pl…please do-don't kill me!" he almost shouted in hysteria.

"What happened to you" I almost command still pointing my bow at him.

"They… they bit me, please they took… took my daughter" He stares at me as he cries in fear.

I couldn't comprehend what he was saying, as I stared at him in bewilderment and confusion.

"Who took who?!" I demand, staring at his hand as it turned grey at every second.

He looks down at his wrist and presses on it tighter causing more blood to flow. I stare at it as my breakfast tries to make a reappearance.

"The- the human eaters, they…they dragged my da… daughter down… down the road please help her" he begs as his eyes slowly begin to dilute.

I look at him in confusion as I slowly raise my bow down. I watch his eyes as they tiredly start closing. The sudden disturbing scream startles me, and my eyes shoot down the road. After a couple of seconds I look back at the man, he tiredly moves his head around in his seat with his eyes slammed shut. I step back as I close the door.

"I'll get her" I speak towards him, only to find no response.

Fear gushing into my body I stare at him in horror, my hand lifts up through the window as I go to feel is pulse. Nothing.

I step back almost immediately panic slating my emotions as my eyes expand in shock.

' _He... he's dead'_ I process slowly in my head.

As I stare at the body of the lifeless man I hear another deadly scream that tears through my ear drum. My head focuses on the sound as I spin towards the noise. With a new sheet of anger gushing through my veins I start sprinting towards the scream. With my feet pounding against the concrete I ignore the pain shooting through my thigh.

I turn the corner of the road almost immediately and I find about five walkers making their way towards somebody, which must be that girl the man was talking about.

Growing furious I start heading towards them. I position my bow and I aim my arrow at one of the walkers, sending it straight into their head. They topple down on the floor as I raise my hand back to grab another arrow. I set it on the bow and I send it flying almost immediately towards the next walker. It slices through the dense air straight into his back, as he carries on making his way forward.

The sudden painful shriek from the girl sends a wave of shivers down my spine as I grab another arrow. Growing enraged at this moment I start sprinting closer to them. I lunge forward and I plunge the arrow straight into the back of the walkers head splatting his blood all over me. He collides to the ground as the walker to my left starts heading towards me. With adrenaline gushing through my body I place another arrow onto my bow and I pull the string back quickly only to hit my target a couple of seconds later. I watch furiously as his body topples to the ground, my arrow tears through his brain as his head hits the ground.

I spin around hesitantly, and I run up to the walker on my right, I kick his knees as he buckles down to the floor, I grab another arrow from the set and I snap it in half. I turn it around in my fingers so that I could touch the sharp part. I look down at him and without thinking I stab it straight through his temple winning me a loud spluttering sound. I rip it out seconds later and I look at the last one.

My pounding heart suddenly stops in place and my chest tightens painfully as I watch the last walker. He is hunched over the little girl devouring her as if she was nothing. My chin starts to tremble as I hear the last faint whimpers from her. My eyes grow unfocused as I make my way towards the little girl and her predator.

I stand behind him as I plunge the arrow straight into the back of his head stopping him from is meal. I rip it out quickly as he falls to the side, hitting the ground with full force creating a huge echo through my messed up mind.

The little girl looks up with tear stained cheeks as her eyes are wide in shock. She tries to utter something out but her words slur as she slowly closes her eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

I watch her small fragile body shiver for the last time as she stops breathing. Feeling completely empty inside I fall to the ground. I felt light headed and nauseated, my breakfast finally making a reappearance I hunch over. I began shaking as the shock settled in, I turn my head around as I watch the blood from the corpses trail towards me. I take a deep breath in as my eye twitches.

I felt hallow inside I could not shed a single tear anymore, it's as if I had ran out of emotions. I crease my brows as I wipe my mouth from my sick. I look down at my hands and I see blood, not my blood but their blood, the walkers from behind me.

' _What have I becom_ e?' I repeat in my head as I gape at my shaking hands.

I slowly wipe my hands on my trousers as my breath hitches for a second. I look down at the ripped hole on my pants from the fire and I see that my bandage had gotten red again.

' _Fuck'_ I thought shakenly.

If I don't get this washed out soon it'll get infected and then who knows, I might die or I might even turn into one of those things, and I don't exactly feel like I want to.

After about fifth teen minutes I slowly try to get up on my feet, feeling the burning signal shoot up from my thigh straight into my head, I drop down again. Closing my eyes as the painful sensation subsides, I clench my jaw and crease my brow in a more determined look. I try again as I try to ignore the pain shooting straight into my brain. I manage to stand up as my right leg throbs in pain. I scan my eyes around and I'm only met with the silent road and the slight breeze that whistles through the deep green forest. My eyes gaze down towards the girl and I notice how the huge hole in her neck has finally stopped bleeding.

' _I must've been here longer than I had suspected'_.

I bend my back down as I reach out for my bow, I feel my sweat trickle down my temple as I hooked my hand around my bow. I swing it on my shoulder and secure it. I take one last glance behind me, and I see the bodies lay silently on the ground with the wind silently breezing through their hair.

I bite my lip as I turn my head forward once again. The taste of metallic blood floods my mouth as I pull my dark shirt down over my pants. I knit my brows and straighten my lips as I place one foot after the other, slowly and gently moving away from all that had happened.

I find myself kicking small rocks along my way as I follow the sandy concrete. As I trek along I feel alone, empty and filled with anger. My eyes gaze up when I hear the sound of wings flapping wildly in the air. My eyes stop on the flock of birds that had hurriedly made their way towards the east. I stop in my track and my brow shoots up in confusion.

' _That can't be good_ ' I thought to myself as I watch them fly away.

I gaze to my left and right and see nothing but a bunch of brown branches, I sigh. Then the roars behind me startle me. I quickly spin around and see an enormous horde of walkers heading my way, right for me. I froze in one place, irritation flooding my veins.

"Oh for fucks sake!" I shout to no one in particular, it's as If I had not survived a wave just then. Anger wiping my gaze I tighten my jaw and squint my eyes as I position the bow, waiting.

"Come on" I whisper in anger as I watch their every move.

I take in a deep breath, as I pull the string back past my ear. I close my eyes as I let the arrow fly, I open my eyes a little later as I see it slice through the air, It fires straight into one of their stomachs, pushing them back a little but they carry on stumbling their way towards me with the other hundred.

' _What the hell are these things'_ I think in panic as I send of my next arrow, missing.

I move my shoulders back, I hear the bones crack as I take another deep breath. My hand raises up to my back and my fingers trace along the last arrow. My heart dropped to my stomach.

My breath hitches as my shaking hand laces around it. I slide it out and I position it on the bow, I slowly pull back the rough string as the huge horde picks up in speed, my eyes fall in full focus.

' _If I am going to die then at least I'll go down fighting'_ I think as I watch their every move.

As I am about to release the string and plunge the arrow it into someone's flesh, my ears focus on the shuffling behind me.

"Ohm please… don't tell me that your planning on killing them with that, sweetheart?"


	9. Authors Note

**Authors Note:**

 **I'm not posting today because I had a pretty busy week so I am really sorry for that, but don't worry I will carry on posting every Tuesday from today. I just wanted to take a short break and focus more on school work, I hope you understand. And thank you so much for the reviews! and especially to** **Blublub 1** **for giving me some tips on the story, I will definitely keep it in mind.** **But anyway I hope you guys have a great day and get ready for chapter 9 on Tuesday!**


	10. Struggled Questions

**Authors Note:** **sorry for posting this chapter late today but I had to tweak it a little, thank you for the support and for your patience that you guys did it really helped me a lot as I have mentioned before in the other chapters. I hope you enjoy this one and to be continued next week! And as always feel free to tell me how you feel about this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer** **\- I do not own any of the hunger games characters or story, all of the credit goes to Suzanne Collins.**

 _I move my shoulders back, I hear the bones crack as I take another deep breath. My hand raises up to my back and my fingers trace along the last arrow. My heart dropped to my stomach._

 _My breath hitches as my shaking hand laces around it. I slide it out and I position it on the bow, I slowly pull back the rough string as the huge horde picks up in speed, my eyes fall in full focus._

' _If I am going to die then at least I'll go down fighting' I think as I watch their every move._

 _As I am about to release the string and plunge the arrow it into someone's flesh, my ears focus on the shuffling behind me._

" _Ohm please… don't tell me that your planning on killing them with that, sweetheart?"_

I slowly blink my eyes as my mind tries to snatch back my memory. I gently loosen the string with my fingers as I close my eyes.

' _There's only one person in this entire world that calls me like that'_

I relax my tensed shoulders a little even though the crowd in front of me makes its way closer and closer by every minute. My eyes open a little as I look behind me.

"Haymitch" I breathe out.

My eyes scan the tall slim figure in front of me. As from as far as I can remember it has not been a long time since I saw him but the old man had aged. His long blonde hair had turned into light stripes of white and gold. The short stubble on his face had grown in length. He stares at me in annoyance and maybe even a little bit of amusement, his stone grey eyes connecting with my own. My eyes focus on his wrinkles as he scrunches up his crooked nose.

"Ohm so were on first name basis now?" He bluntly states as he looks behind me.

I scoff as my eyes follow his. I crease my brows as I look behind me, my eyes scan the huge crowd that is stumbling and pushing each other to get to us.

"Making new friends huh?"

My head shoots back towards him.

' _Why is he finding this so amusing'_ I question myself as irritation grows within me.

As I am about to open my mouth another voice disrupts me.

"Hey sorry to interrupt but I think we should go"

My head snaps to the right as I take in the worried couple. My eyes scan over a very tall broad figure. His bronze wavy hair standing out the most, and his huge green eyes. His light stubble is barely visible and he has a frown plastered on his features which is weirdly charming to the eye. I look to the left and I take in the other small slim figure. She has long ginger hair that hangs in waves past her shoulders, with shiny emerald green eyes. I gaze down a little and I stop on the huge bump on her stomach.

' _Pregnant perhaps_?' I think.

"You heard the kid let's go!" Haymitch states as he turns around.

With confusion wiping my gaze, I look as the three of them turn in union and head into the green dense forest. I feel my dazzled mind process everything, a wave of relief gushes through my body to see the old man but then again I have quite a lot of questions to ask.

"Hey sweetheart you going to move or do you want to be their next meal!"

I shake my head a little as I lift up my head only to be met with Haymitches face, he readjusts his bag on his shoulder as he stares at me with worry and I would be lying if I didn't see a hint of amusement.

"Don't call me that" I say bluntly towards him as I begin to step forward, one foot after the other crushing leaves underneath the soles of my shoes. I take one more glance backwards towards the heard of walkers. I can't help but to wonder about that little poor girl that I could not get to in time. Before I let my thoughts crush me again I shake my head side to side as I follow Haymitch and the other two forward.

As we climb over a huge tree that had lost its balance and toppled down, my mind begins to fill with more questions. I look up and I see Haymitche's greasy hair shine from the suns light. I nod my head side to side as I bend my legs up to pass through some big boulders. I scan my surroundings. Nothing but a bunch of trees and moss. I wonder where we are actually heading to because it is definitely not towards my little sister Prim. I stop in my tracks, stepping into a pile of brown mud.

"Where are we going?" I ask no one in specific.

I watch as they all stop and snap their heads back towards me. I lean on one foot and my right hand rests on my hip. I let out a long sigh as I give them the biggest scowl I can muster up, when I hear Haymitch chuckle a little.

"Ahh I was wondering when you'd ask" He slurs.

I tense my jaw a little, ' _He's drunk, I cannot believe this man, even in situations like this he drinks, he is unbelievable_ ' I lower my eyes towards him as my scowl grows.

"Ohm come on cheer up a little" I watch as his hand flies towards his back pocket. He swings out a bottle with some yellow liquid inside it and takes a huge swig.

' _Cheer up? Cheer up!_ ' is this guy serious. My mouth is about to open when he interrupts me.

"Oh and about that question of yours?" he whips his head around quickly.

"That I don't know" He bluntly speaks out with amusement, taking another swig.

"Tsk!" is all I manage to utter before the bronze haired man snatches the bottle away from Haymitche's hand, causing him to groan a little.

"What did I tell you about that bottle of yours?"

I watch as Haymitch mumbles some incoherent words under his breath as looks up at the other man with disgust. He launches his hands towards the bottle, and snatches it back without the other man realising and quickly pops the lid back onto it.

The bronze haired man shakes his head in defeat as he looks towards me. His huge green eyes boring straight into mine, he rolls he rolls them a little.

"We're getting some supplies for our group, apparently there's some not far from here" He says as he turns and wraps his hand around the other woman's shoulders.

I crease my brow in confusion, ' _group? What group?_ ' I think.

"Hey! What group?"

He shrugs his shoulders and carries on walking with a very annoyed Haymitch behind them.

"You'll see when we get there" The man speaks up as he treks forward.

My eye twitches in annoyance as I place one foot after the other behind them.

We walk for a couple of more minutes, with me ducking and crouching under a bunch of bushes and trees, when I hear a faint noise a couple of steps to our right. The couple must've heard it too since they go and hide beind a huge brown tree. I hear more leaves crunch behind me and I realize that Haymitch is still walking forward minding his own business. Without thinking I launch forward and I grab his greasy old shirt and I push him against the tree. I look behind it.

I notice two cold blooded walkers heading our way.

"Shut up and stay here" I command towards Haymitch, earning me as slight nod.

I step away from the tree silently as I raise my bow, I pull out my arrow from the back and I place it lightly on the string. I pull it back past my cheek as I take in a deep breath. Seconds later I release the arrow, making it soar through the air straight into the walkers head. I watch as its lifeless body tumbles down onto the floor, creating another loud thud with echoes inside my dazzled mind.

My eyes shoot to my right as the other walker turns around and stumbles my way, the blood from his mouth dripping down onto his white shirt, creating huge bloody prints on it.

' _White shirt'_ I think as my mind rolls back to Peeta. ' _He_ _used to wear a white shirt in the bakery'_ my mind drifts of for a second as the painful flashback of Peeta pop into my mind.

The sudden loud snap of a twig grabs my attention, I shoot my eyes forwards as I am met with terrifyingly devilish ones. I swing my hand to my back to reach for another arrow but all I am met with is emptiness.

I roll my eyes in frustration, _'last arrow, right'_ I state in my head.

With irritation gushing through me I grab the bow with both of my hands and I raise it up in a fight position, just like I had when I was at the warehouse.

As I am about to swing, the painful gurgle of the walker in front of me startles me, I watch as its bloodshot devilish eyes turn white as it collapses in front of me, I slightly open my mouth as the shock settles in. I look to my right only to see the brown haired man wipe his bloody hunting knife on his cargo pants, causing load red angry smears on them.

He looks at me and raises the cleaned hunting knife towards me.

"You should use this for now, since you're out of those" He points towards the empty set on my back, I nod lightly.

The sudden disturbing scream makes us both jump. My eyes snap towards the right and I see another one of those walkers making its way towards the woman, she tries to push him away with her hands.

"Annie!" The man beside me screams.

Without thinking I snatch the knife from his hand and I sprint towards the two. As I am about to get there, the abrupt sound of crashing glass forces me to stop in my tracks. I look up only to find the walker on the ground and a very annoyed Haymitch beside it.

"And that was my last glass bottle too" he says irritated as he looks at his bloody hand.

I run up to the very angry walker as it grabs Annie's leg causing her to scream once more, without another thought I plunge the knife into its brain, spluttering some blood my pants. I rip its hand away that was enclosed around Annie's foot and I stand up.

"Annie!"

"Finnick!" I watch as they both crash into each other, with Finnick moving a back a little for the pregnancy bump on Annies stomach.

It was as if everything went silent, all I can manage to hear is some muffled voices. I can hear my heart thud loud as I take a step back. I look at the now dead walker on the ground.

"Thank you" I manage to register.

I look forward, as my head spins a little, the sudden touch of someone's hands on my shoulders makes me jump as little. I soon come to the realization that I am being wrapped up in a tight hug, with my hands by my side my eyes widen for a second.

"Thank you" this time I hear it clearly as Finnick lets go of me.

He glues his eyes onto mine as they fill with tears, I raise the side of my lip slightly to accept his thanks, and so that he could compose himself.

"Where the hell am I going to find another one of those?" Haymitch almost shouts.

I scowl his way as I take a step back from Finnick.

"Thanks Haymitch" Finnick says as he steps to the side to give him a side hug.

I find myself cringing their way as I focus my eyes down towards the muddy ground. I really do not like embraces.

"Well Haymitch were at our destination so feel free to look" Finnick speaks out.

I shoot my eyes up, and indeed we are at an old tiny abandoned hut. I start walking towards it with the rest of them following after me. I hold the knife steady in my hand as I swing the door open, the familiar creaking sound sends shivers down my spine as I look inside. There's a chair in the bottom right corner with a guitar propped on it and another close to it. Looking to my left I see a small metal fridge which has been placed on a stool, and another room to my right.

We all step inside the area as Finnick shuts the door. I limp forward towards the closed door on my right and I twist the handle. I look inside and I find nothing but the toilet seat on my left, a bath in front of me and a small sink with a cabinet placed underneath it. I walk forwards towards the cupboard and I crouch down, wincing at the shot of pain that ran through my leg. I swing the cabinet open, I scan through a bunch of toothpastes and other useless things until I stop on a large white bottle reading: **ALCOHOL** in bold letters.

"Why does everyone have alcohol stored in their bathrooms?" I mumble under my breath, slightly confused.

I decide to grab it anyway, and I stand up. I look down at the tap and I twist it open with my fingers. Splashing water on my face, I feel relief run through my body.

As I close the running tap I wipe my face into my shirt and I walk out the door.

"Haymitch!" I call out.

"What do you want?" he shouts.

I follow the sound of his voice and I spot him sitting down miserably on the old chair on my left. I roll my eyes as I limp my way towards him. As I reach him I bend down a little.

"Give me your hand" I demand.

"No"

"Yes"

"Why?"

"I have alcohol, I can clean it for you" I state as I watch him in disgust.

"Oh okay, sure" he smiles almost immediately.

He moves his bloody hand forward, and I manage not to gag. His hand has bits of glass stuck inside his flesh, with it gushing blood. I scrunch up my nose as I pop open the liquor bottle, since he is already half drunk I am sure that he is not going to feel any pain. I tilt the bottle over his wound, winning me a loud painful shriek. With my other hand I pull out the bits of glass. I pour more of the liquor on his wound as he groans in pain.

After I'm done with that I look around for some type of bandage, but I can't seem to find anything. Without any idea about what I am doing I place the bottle down beside my foot and I look down at my shirt. With both of my hands I grab the end of it and I rip a piece off, after I have managed that I reach down for the glass again, only to find that it's not there. My eyes snap towards Haymitch as I see him take a huge swig.

"What the hell are you doing?" I state irritated with him.

"Refreshing myself" he says arrogantly.

I give him the biggest scowl that I could muster up, and I stand up. I wrap the dry bandage on his hand and I Spin around in my track. I limp forward towards the left side of the room near the guitar. I grab it by the neck and I place it beside the chair as I sit down, winning me a soft thud, as I close my eyes.

"Katniss right?"

I peek though one eye to see Finnick and Annie standing in front of me. I nod slightly.

"I'm Finnick, Finnick Odair by the way as you have probably heard before" he says as he reaches his hand out towards me. I take it and he gives me a good shake.

"And this is Annie Cresta… well soon to be Odair" He grins widely as he lifts up Annies hand showing me the beautiful shiny ring on her finger.

I smile a little to their response, "so what are we doing?"

"Well I and Annie managed to find some bottles and canned food back in the kitchen, but that's about it really" Finnick states as he takes a seat on the floor. Annie soon follows him and bends down holding her bloated stomach.

My eyes widen a little as I shoot up of the chair, she looks at me with confusion and I just gesture towards the seat, she gives me a small smile and sits down while I take a seat on the freezing floor.

"I swear that gale said that there was more here" Finnick says a little irritated.

Annie bends back into the chair and sighs loudly.

"Well I guess that this is all we get"

"Who's gale?" I say a little too loudly. They both look towards me and Finnick shrugs.

"Ohm well we have this camp out in the east, and gale pretty much controls everything there" he says.

"Right" I mumble, but I can't help the fact that the word ' _east'_ stirred something inside of me.

"So what where you doing in front of all those flesh eaters anyway?" he asks.

My head rolls back through everything that has happened and causes my heart to thud a little faster, I take a deep breath as I look at Finnick.

"I was just trying to help a bunch of people but then I kind of got lost" I lie, trying to make my voice sound as normal as possible.

"And what happened to ' _those_ ' people? If I can ask?" Annie asks while she leans forward.

I breathe out loudly as I look down at my shaking hands, "They're err… they umm didn't make it" I breathe in quickly as Finnick lays his hand on top of mine. I look up at him.

His eyes grow big with worry as he lightly taps my hand, "it's okay we lost people to" he whispers as he looks at Annie with sorrow.

I nod lightly as I look down again.

"Do you play guitar?" Finnick asks a couple of minutes later.

I look up at him and nod side to side, "no I don't" I lie.

"Well then I guess I got to take matters in my own hands" he states as he grabs the guitar.

"Finnick what are you doing? you don't even play that?" Annie chuckles softly as she motions towards the guitar that is now sitting awkwardly in Finnicks lap.

He laughs loudly and strums a little, I shut my eyes as the horrible sound passes through my ears, sending shivers down my spine.

I remember how my dad taught me how to play before his death, and how his guitar did not sound anything like that, he played beautifully, in fact so beautifully that I can almost still hear it.

"Oh you don't like it?" Finnick asks me all of a sudden.

I raise my brow a little as I look at him, "I didn't say that"

"Well you sure look it" he says as he grins.

I turn my eyes away from his and I stare at the floor ' _maybe I do'_ I think.

I hear a soft thud as the guitar was placed on the wooden floor, followed by a long sigh. I turn my eyes towards Annie, she smiles lovingly as she looks at Finnick.

"How long?" I ask Annie, as I try to keep myself distracted.

She creases her brow as she turns her head towards me, I nod towards her stomach and her face relaxes a little as she acknowledges what I had meant.

"Six months now, it's a boy" she sighs and grins towards a very overjoyed Finnick.

I smile at them, "congratulations, even though I'm a little late" I mumble towards them.

They both chuckle a little.

"So have you got any brothers or sisters?" Finnick asks out of curiosity.

' _Prim'_ I wonder. Where is she now, what she is doing, if she's safe and alive? She has to be I mean she is a strong lady, I love her with all my life and I'm going to find her.

"Well I have a sister, but I don't know where she is" I say as my voice cracks a little.

Finnick and Annie crease their brows, "what do you mean that you don't know where she is? What does she looks like?" Annie asks.

"Well she's the complete opposite from how I look like, blonde, blue eyes very kind, very young in fact you would hardly think that we are sisters at all-" I get interrupted by Annie.

"Primrose?" she blurts out.

Silence.

My heart suddenly stops, I could hardly catch my breath.

"Primrose Everdeen?" Annie repeats.

My eyes blur from my tears as I launch up from the floor, ' _wait they know who she is, they know where she is, she's alive?'_ all these questions scream inside my mind as I stare back at Annie.

"Yeah…I mean yes she's my sister I'm Katniss Everdeen" I blurt out loud.

Finnick grins widely, "I should have known it was you, I mean she keeps talking about you"

"Where is she?" I ask suddenly determined to go.

"She's back at the camp, we can go now" Finnick says as he rises from his spot, he walks up to Annie and grabs her hands to help her up off the chair.

All I do is nod from my own adrenaline gushing within me, I turn around and I see Haymitch get up from his seat. I limp towards him.

"You knew?" I ask irritated that he didn't tell me.

"Knew what?"

"That prim is back at the camp asking for me" I blurt out

He looks a little taken a back, "well it didn't come up plus to my own defence I completely forgot" he shakes his head a little.

As I am about to speak Finnicks voice interrupts me.

"Alright were all good, let's go"

I give Haymitch an angry glare as I turn around to limp towards the door, my excitement demolishing my anger for Haymitch in seconds.

I hear as the old man sigs behind me as I get to the door, I swing it open and I wait for the others to pass through. I close the door and I walk out to them.

"So where to?" I ask sternly.

Finnick turns his head to the right side and grins a little, he makes eye contact with me for a split second and points to the right.

"We're about ten minutes away from it actually, we must've just make a huge pointless circle the first time" he says as he look to his left at Haymitch who nods while he sniffs up his liquor.

Without thinking I start trekking to my right, ' _I got to get to her, to tell her that everything is okay, to say that we're going to be okay'_ I think as my shoes sink beneath the wet ground.

"Hey not to fast" I hear Finnick call out, making me stop abruptly in my tracks.

I spin around in my spot and I look towards Finnick, I watch as he takes something out of his bag, my eyes scan over the object and I soon realise that it's a water bottle. I take a few limps forward and I take it.

' _Thanks'_ I mouth out to him as I pop open the lid from the bottle with my fingers

"So where did you hurt your leg?" Annie asks as we slowly begin walking.

I scrunch up my nose as the guilt within me engulfs in flames again, ' _oh rue'_ I think as my eyes go a little blurry. I take a long swig from my bottle, causing the long cold liquid to run down my throat.

"I err burnt it" I blurt out as I keep my eyes forward.

I hear a soft ' _oh_ ' from Annie as we step on a few of the rocks that had popped up in front of us.

 **A Couple of Minutes Later…**

As we walk through the cold forest, the sound of another man's voice jolts me from my day dream. My eyes snap up and I notice a metal green fence about ten yards away from us. My breath hitches as I raise my eyebrow. Looking for answers I snap my eyes to my left towards Finnick who gives me a reassuring smile.

We make it to the gate a couple of minutes later and Finnick creaks it open. I look to my left and right and I wearily step through it.

"Well this is the place" I hear Finnick mumble.

I look around the area, it's out in the open with a couple of old ripped tents dotted around the area surrounded by the green fence which I am guessing is electric, nothing big or anything. I turn my head around to Finnick and Annie who are staring behind me with grins plastered on their faces, I raise my brow at them.

' _What are they looking at'_ I think.

My question is answered almost immediately when I hear someone utter softly.

"Katniss…?"


	11. Relief

**Authors Note:** **Sorry for being late today but I thought that I had to add more tweaks to this chapter, but overall I hope you guys like it and the song that I have decided to use in this chapter is by (** **Andrew Belle, in my veins.** **) I thought that it had worked perfectly with Katniss's situation and it kind of described Katniss' feelings towards Peeta.**

 **And don't worry this is an Everlark fanfiction I just need to involve different characters so that the story would make more sense so just go along with me.**

 **I suggest that you guys listen to the song near the end because it really makes sense, but yeah I hope you enjoy this chapter 10.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Hunger Games character or book, all the credit goes to Suzanne Collins.**

I take a deep breath in, as I realize that the voice sounds rather rough and tight than the soft voice I remember that prim had. I try to look at Finnick for any answers but he just keeps his lips settled on a tight smile.

I turn my head slowly towards the unfamiliar sound of someone's voice, my right hand reaches down into my pocket, lacing my fingers around the hunting knife that Finnick had given me.

I look up towards the figure and I soon come to the realisation that it is not prim but some really tall black haired man with piercing grey eyes boring straight into mine. My brain suddenly triggers back to when rue had described a man that had got prim away from school without my assist. I tense my jaw a little as I find myself sprininting towards him in anger.

His stone grey eyes widen as his hands hold me back, I hear faint screeches as someone behind me tries to pull me back away from this very tall dark haired man.

"How do you know my name, where the hell is my sister?" I demand, I am not playing around anymore, I've had enough of these stupid tricks.

"Who? Your sister, she's upstairs!" He shouts back as his strong arms force my arms down.

I crease my brow as I move back away from him, causing him to lose his balance and stumble forward a little bit.

I take a sharp breath as I look around the area once again, I quickly come to the terms that the building behind this tall man is the only building with a second floor on it. Without thinking I sprint towards the building knocking my shoulder against the man in front of me as pass by him to the door. I fling it open with my right hand, ignoring the throbbing pain coming from my thigh, I walk through it and I shoot my eyes to my right at the stair case. Ignoring the whole living room area I almost leap up the stairs.

Making my way up the last stair I pause, there were only two doors up here one on the right and the other on the left side down the hall, I make the decision of walking to the first door to my right, with my heart beating out of my chest I twist the door knob to the right and I swing the door open. I'm met with an empty white room, with an old guitar In front on me placed against the wall. It has a small plasma on my right and a master bed on my left.

I step back out of the dark room and I take a peek down the hall.

' _That one must be it'_ I think as I lightly limp towards the black wooden door. As I stand in front of it I take a deep breath.

' _I wish rue was here to see this'_ I think as I grab hold of the cold metal door knob.

I twist it lightly to the right and I hear the all too familiar squeaking noise. I focus my eyes down as I step through into the warm room.

I softly close the door behind me as I look up. I see a small figure lying in bed cocooned in sheets with its head turned away from me. I hear a light snob as the figure turns around lazily in the bed.

My heart aces in relief and excitement when my eyes scan over messy blonde. My eyes fill with tears when she looks up at me. We stare at each other for a couple of seconds until I couldn't bare it anymore the huge lump in my throat finally releasing.

"Prim" I blurt out, as her eyes widen in shock.

"Katniss?-"she utters out in disbelief.

It takes me half a second to leap on top of her bed. I wrap her in a tight bear hug as she cries into my shoulder, soaking it entirely. Her body seemed to have reduced in size since the last time I held her.

I feel my tears fall down my cheeks without an end, but I don't care I had finally found something that I had cared about the most in this world, right here with me.

She shudders in my arms as she tightens her grip around my shoulders.

"Hush, its okay now I'm here, your safe" I whisper into her hair lightly as my voice cracks.

I pull away from her as my hands wrap around her face to keep her still, my eyes scan over her puffy ocean blue eyes and her messy bundle of blonde hair that I had missed so badly, her lips are abnormally purple and her cheeks; nose are bright red.

"How did… how did you find me?" she asks between her sobs as she stares at me wide-eyed.

My eyes fill with tears as my brain goes through my whole journey of trying to find my sister, the pain and hurt I had to go through to find my one and only sister.

"Let's just say that Haymitch, Finncik and Anne brought me to you" I smile a little as I wrap my sister into a tight hug once again.

The gush of relief glazed my muscles as I sobbed into her white shirt, 'what sort of miracle is this?' I think as I close my eyes.

"I was scared, I didn't know what to do, where to go" Prim speaks up as she muffles her face into my shirt.

"It's okay now, where going to be fine" I say as I pull away from her embrace.

I watch as she frantically nods her face up and down. My right hand raises up to her cheek to stop her from moving her head. She slowly makes eye contact with me as her frown turns into an overjoyed grin, her blue eyes brighten as her hand slowly caresses my face.

"This is real" she whispers towards me, with makes my face brighten up and my smile to widen. I have not felt such happiness since the last time that I had seen her, ' _maybe there was this little bundle of hope left in this broken, wrecked world'_.

I nod to her question, "are you okay?" I ask as I sit up comfortably on the bed.

She looks a little uneasy about my question but nods happily, "I just caught a cold that's all but now that doesn't matter!" she bubbles up as she takes both of my cold hands.

I can't help but widen my grin as I look at her, "well isn't that good to hear" I say as I sit up straighter on her bed.

She sits back into her pillows and I cross my left leg but straighten out my right leg on the bed, I wince a little but I mask it with a grin as I look up at Prim. I watch as her eyes focus down on my thigh as she creases her brows.

"What happened?" she asks, as her rights hand lifts up to my thigh.

I pull back my leg almost immediately, "oh it's nothing just a little burn" I brush it off.

She looks at me with concern and slides off the bed, "where are you going?" I ask.

She shrugs off my question and walks into another door inside the room which I hadn't seem to notice, she comes out a couple of minutes later holding cling film and some tablets in her right hand and a box full of butter. I raise my eyebrow towards her, ' _butter?'_ I think.

"Prim I'm not hungry or anything" I say, winning me a short chuckle from her.

She walks slowly around the bed towards me and places the objects on top of the bed, she looks down at my burn and raises her brow towards me.

"Have you washed it?"

I focus my eyes on her, "err I poured alcohol onto it".

She nods, "right…. take your pants off" she demands.

I raise both of my eyebrows but I obey anyway. I slide of the bed and I take off my pants, making sure that the fabric does not slide past my burnt area. I kick them off and I sit back down on the bed.

Prim picks up the tablets of the bed and gives them to me, I swallow them a couple of seconds later.

"they're painkillers" she says as she walks back into the room that she had come out of, I hear her fidget with something and then she comes back out with a bottle of iodine and a white small cloth draped over her small skinny shoulder. My legs suddenly grow numb at the sight of it, ' _ash shit'_ I think in panic. Prim notices my paling face and she winces a little.

"I know you said that you poured alcohol onto it but you seem to not have cleared all of it" she says as she walks towards me.

She pops open the lid and gives me an uneasy look, I nod and she pours the liquid onto the cloth and places it firmly onto my burn, I groan in pain as she pats my leg a couple of times.

"Okay were good" she says as she looks up at me in worry.

"Good" I sigh.

At this she closes the lid and puts the bottle beside the bed, she then grabs the butter and pops the lid off and dips her fingers into it. She then proceeds with placing the butter onto my thigh, lathering it thickly all over my burn causing a wave of relief to run through my body as the cold greasy substance does its magic. Prim smiles at me and pulls out the cling film and wraps it around my thigh.

"And… were good" she says as she finishes her work.

I sigh a little as she sits back up on the bed, she smiles lightly towards me and crosses her legs "where did you learn that" I ask.

She shrugs a little, "that's one of the basic thinks they taught me in school"

I nod a little, that's right I had almost forgotten that prim went to a private school to study medicine which she would still be doing right now if it wasn't for this ' _mess'_.

"Thank you" I say sincerely.

She gives me a lopsided grin and pulls the covers up onto her legs.

"So what happened, where did you go?" I ask.

Her face changes into a small frown, "well when the explosion happened, the kids went crazy and started running outside down the staircase. I didn't really know what to do until I was practically alone in the classroom… I wanted to wait for you but then I thought that I could meet you outside. And as I went outside and waited, my friend Rory ran up to me and asked me if I could come with him… and that's when his brother came ' _Gale'_ , he said that it's going to be okay and that we should probably get away from here… Katniss I promise that I fought him to stay and wait for you but he said that you'll find us… so I went… and- and since then I waited for you" she finishes as her eyes fill with tears.

I shut my eyes for a second as I process everything that she had said, and I lean forward to give her a hug.

"Well I did end up finding you so that's all that matters" I whisper.

She pulls away from me and wipes her tears away with her fingers, and nods up and down.

"So… this is where you have been holding up all this time?" I ask as I recompose myself.

She nods a little as she takes a long ragged breath and covers her mouth, I scrunch up my forehead a little as I watch her, worry filling my relaxed body.

"Are you okay?" I ask, as I lean forward towards her.

She leans back away from me quickly and wipes her mouth, "yeah I'm fine I just got this… this cold from somewhere, but as to answer your earlier question yes… we have been here all this time-" she suddenly cuts off and coughs into the white cloth.

I push myself towards her and she pushes me back lightly, "Prim, are you sure that you're okay-"I abruptly stop my sentence as my eye catches something red on the cloth that prim had coughed into.

She notices this and closes it in her hand. My right hand reaches out to hers and I fight her to open it, "Katniss don't" she screeches out, but it's too late my eyes scan over the blotches of blood covered all over the white cloth.

My heart tightens as I stare at it with wide eyes.

"Prim? what's this?" I ask softly.

She wipes her mouth with her hand as she stares at me, her eyes filling with tears once again.

"I… err there was… this, this doctor that had come around a couple of days ago and he… he checked me out and said that I… that I have a bad illness" she utters between her long hitched breaths.

I shake my head side to side as my vision turns blurry, ' _illness what illness_?' I question myself.

"What type of illness" I force out, as I look down.

Silence.

I shoot my eyes up to see Prim turn bright red, as her tears flood down her cheeks, my heart starts to crack a little to see her cry, to see her cry in pain and not in joy.

"It's… its pneumonia" she blurts out.

It was as if I got shot my chest clenches and I find it hard to breathe as I stare at her In disbelief, ' _no, no- no this is not how everything was supposed to go, I was supposed to find her all healthy, clean, alive…this is just another one of those bad dreams, she's okay…_ 'I drift off.

"How do you know?" I utter out.

She looks up at me with her puffy red eyes and before she can answer me her breath hitches and she struggles to breathe. I grow more hysterical as I give her another white cloth that had laid on her bed. I slide of the bed and I limp to her side on the pillow. She tries to take in sharp breathes as I pat her back.

"Its… well the doctor said that everything that is happing to me is exactly what the symptoms of pneumonia is, Katniss- I- I'm sorry for this" her face creases into a frown as she wipes her bloody mouth.

Feeling completely helpless in this situation I just move closer to her, and I caress her blonde messy hair lightly.

' _She wasn't ill when she was with me, she was safe and away from any harm, but since gale had taken her she has become this…and I am not going to let it go just like that'_ I think as I clench my jaw.

I move away from Prim a little and I sort out the pillows behind her back. I place her down on them and I lean forward to give her a soft kiss but she moves her head away.

"Doctor said it can be contagious, I'm sorry Katniss I didn't think-"I just ignore that fact and I place a soft kiss on her head, she tenses up but then relaxes a little.

"I'll be fine, I'm just going to go to gale and I'll be right back okay?" I say as I remove some strands of hair from her forehead.

She nods and watches me as I walk out the door.

As soon as I am out I quickly limp towards the stair case and I make my way down, irritation gushing through my veins as if they were about to set fire. I reach the door and I swing it open, shutting it loudly behind me I scan the camp. My eyes stop on the tall figure that I was looking for, without taking another thought into my actions I make my way over to him. He stands against some rusty old barrels looking at a burned creased piece of paper.

"Hey!" I shout before I can stop myself.

He turns around and faces me, his cold grey eyes piercing my soul as I angrily make my way towards him.

"What?" he shouts back rather nicely, from our previous encounter.

"You were supposed to take care of my fucking sister not cause her to have a severe illness!" I shout as I push him back into the barrels causing some to crash into the ground loudly.

"That wasn't my fault! Look I took care of your sister okay" he says as he takes another one of my pushes.

"Bullshit! she wouldn't have to deal with this if it wasn't for you!" I shout as I throw the bottles and papers that gale was looking at, sending them flying into the air and hitting him in process.

"No, just listen okay? For one fucking second just hear me out!" he shouts at me, as his hands fly in front of his body.

I try to cool down my heavy breaths as I muster up my biggest scowl.

"Okay… well- look we had this doc and he said that-"

"Where the fuck is this doctor!" I interrupt him.

He scrunches up his long crooked nose and gives me a cold stare, "she has pneumonia… but he also said that we could somehow cure it… that's if were fast enough" he states as he takes a step towards me, which I react to almost immediately by stepping back.

"Where is this doctor?" I repeat again, but more sternly.

He breaths out loudly in defeat, "He is dead…" he states bluntly.

I stop in my tracks and I steady my breath, "how can we cure it?" I ask quieter.

"Well… I have a map which you have bluntly thrown away" he states sarcastically as he bends down and picks up the burnt paper.

He bumps shoulders with me and slams the paper onto the rusty barrels causing a thud which echoed loudly in the silent area. I shut my eyes as the sound passed.

"Look…" he says as he points to a hand painted road on the piece of paper. I walk closer to him to get a closer look.

"There's this pharmacy… it just down the road from here which we could go to, to get some medicine that might just save Prims life"

I lean on my right foot as I look at the painted red line on the map that leads just down the road from our area, ' _Short walk from here'_ I think.

"So what are we waiting for… let's go" I say as I take a couple of steps away from Gale.

I hear him sigh a little, "sounds pretty easy but… there's these guards dotted all around the area, so we can't just wonder in" he says as he turns around to face me.

"So what's the plan?" I ask while crossing my hands over my chest.

 **A Couple of Minutes Later…**

I watch as gale clears up the crumpled up map and drinks out of his water bottle. I look down at the chipped table in front of me and I pick up my knife which Finnick had given me before and I take a water bottle. The short soft footsteps behind me pricks up my ears as I turn around, only to be met by another set of grey eyes.

"You ready?" Gale asks as he repositions the bag on his shoulders.

I give him a short nod, "Yeah, let me just go do one more thing" I say as I turn to make my way towards the two story house.

I open the door and I walk through it. Hearing the door click behind me I walk upstairs and down the corridor. I reach the big black wooden door and I lightly open it, only to be met by my little sister who is sitting comfortably in her bed.

I lightly smile as I cross over to her bed, "Hey, little duck" I mock her nickname that causes her to scrunch up her nose a little.

"Hey" she tries to mock my voice, which makes me smile a little wider, ' _gosh I missed this'_ I think as I sit down next to her.

"So… me and gale are going to go somewhere for a couple of hours to go and fetch for something, okay?" I say as her face suddenly turns pale.

"No… look if it's for medicine or anything I am not letting you go, I've waited for such a long time to see you" She pleads as she takes in a long ragged breath.

I listen to the way her breath icily shoots through her throat, which causes a huge lump to rise in my throat, "look Prim well be back in no time I promise"

"No"

"Prim, that is not your decision to make, I'll be back I promise" I state bluntly as I try to swallow the huge lump that's making its way up my throat.

She creases her brow and gives me a painful frown, I move towards her and I wrap my arms around her shoulders, She moves her head away from me but I pull it back into my shoulder to show her that I don't care that she is ill, that as long as she is here safe and sound, it's okay.

"Let me come with you" Prims whispers.

I shake my head lightly, "I'm sorry, I can't risk losing you again" I whisper back as I move away from her.

"Please?" she pleads as her eyes turn into bright wide puppy dog eyes to try and persuade me, I just shake my head once more and I rise of the bed.

I walk towards the door and I grab hold of the cold rusty door knob, I swing the door open earning me another loud squeak.

"Promise me that you'll come back" Prim blurts out with a shaky voice.

I turn my head around and I lock my eyes with hers, "I promise Prim"

And with that I walk out the door

I trek along the long wooden staircase as my motivation for helping Prim out grows bigger, ' _well find it, bring it and give it to Prim…piece of cake'_ I think to myself, as I walk out of the door.

The cold air hits my face like a punch in the face causing me to zip up my coat that I was given by Finnick. I trek along the cold rocky path to gale.

"Let's go" I state bluntly as I walk past him towards the gate.

He follows behind me as we walk past the green gate, I stop to look around, there are two roads leading to my left and right, "where to?"

"Just to our right" he says.

"Right" I state emotionlessly as I set off.

He reaches up to me in my speed walk, "you don't like me very much do you?" he asks as he touches my shoulder to slow me down a little.

' _I don't even know him but from what has happened lately, no… he is definitely not my favourite kind of person but to be fair I don't like people overall so he is lucky that I am at least talking to him'_ I think.

"No" I state bluntly as I kick a few rocks in front of me, crashing them into other smaller ones.

He sighs next to me and we carry on making our way down the muddy road, I take in a deep breath to refresh myself as I look around, all I manage to notice is a bunch of trees which don't seem to end and a couple that must've fallen due to the stormy weather.

I hear a rustling sound to my left and I turn my head, I see Gale staring at his crumpled piece of paper as he scrunches up his forehead.

"Let's go through these woods so that we would be in risk of getting spotted" he says as he turns to his right into the maze of trees.

I obey and follow right after him. I climb over a few broken abandoned trees and roots which got my heart pumping pretty fast.

"Prim has mentioned you a lot of times"

His voice takes me back a little as I try to process what he just said, "I heard".

He turns his head back a little to look at me, "she kept mentioning about how you love places like these… I'd say that makes two of us" he says as his lips rise a little.

"Nice" I bluntly state as I concentrate forward.

He lets out a tired long breath, "look I get that you're pissed at me… but for Christ sakes at least try and make some conversation!" he blurts out and stops in his tracks.

I let out an irritated sigh, ' _this is not a damn get to know party I'm trying to help out my damn sister'_ I think.

"Are we close to that place yet" I shrug of his question.

He looks at me in disbelief and scratches the back of his head, this triggers my mind almost immediately, ' _Peeta used to do that when he used to get nervous, he was so easy to read I'm pretty sure I was to but he was different compared to gale… he was kind, gentle and loving but from as far as I can tell gale is just the exact opposite of him_ ' I think.

"Okay, how about… err my names Gale, Gale Hawthorne" he says as he holds out his hand.

I groan a little as I take his rough hand in my own, ' _Peeta had soft gentle hands compared to gale'_ I think again.

"Katniss as you probably know by now" I state as I drop his hand.

"Well it's great to meet you to… we're a couple of minutes away" he says as he turns around and treks forward.

 **Five Minutes Later…**

I watch as Gale slowly crouches down beside a thorn bush and I do the same which caused a light jolt of pain to run up my thigh.

"From as far as I'm concerned were here, and it's that place there" he whispers as his points his finger towards this light blue small building that is behind an old brick wall.

"Okay…" I state as I watch him.

"Alright so as I said before we climb over and hide behind the white building behind it, there should be two guards there patrolling that area" He says as he makes his way across the wall.

I follow behind him soundlessly as we reach the brick wall, I watch as he jumps forward and grabs hold of the brick and pulls himself up lightly almost as if he had done this a couple of times. He sits on top of it and waits for me, I take a small run up and I spring of my feet and I grab the brick, I pull myself up. I feel a light hand on my shoulder as I sit up, I quickly slap Gale's hand away from me and he gives me an annoyed look, _' I definitely do not need help from him'_ I think as I drop down onto the other side.

I hear him drop a couple of seconds later after me and we both make a beeline towards the white building behind the pharmacy, we stop and lean against the wall, I try to control my hard breaths as Gale looks from around the corner.

"And?" I ask as I bend forward to catch my breath.

Silence.

I look to my right and I watch as Gale's eyebrows rise in confusion, "They are… not there?" He states as he starts walking to the blue building.

"What?" I mumble underneath my breath, ' _this can't be real, what does he mean they're not there?'_ all these questions pile onto me as I follow after him.

We walk towards the pharmacy rather fast and we notice that all the windows have been smashed, I walk across the bits of glass as Gale swings the door open.

I walk through the door into the blinking lights of the pharmacy, "Ash Fuck!" I hear Gale's irritated voice.

"What?" I ask as I walk past him only then my eyes scan the dead soldier on the floor with his own blood sprayed everywhere.

"They must've fought for the medicine and I guess he lost" Gale says as he walks up to the body to feel his pulse.

I watch as his blood swims towards me, and I move my feet back a little as the blood flows past them.

"Katniss?" I hear gale call out sounding rather disappointed.

I turn my head to face him and see that he just stands there empty handed, holding nothing but his black hunting knife.

"Did you find anything?" I ask as I walk slowly towards him, I watch as he slowly shakes his head.

"They took every last bit…"

At this I run up to the counters and I open every single drawer, cabinet, ' _oh come on please something, anything_ ' I plead as I throw more papers into the air.

"Katniss it's no use… I already looked everywhere" I hear Gale say as he quickly jogs up to me.

I grow angrier, "so what do you expect me to do huh? What? come back empty handed and let Prim die!" I shout at him as I scan the room quickly.

I hear him sigh loudly as his right hand covers his eyes.

I look down at the ground and an idea pops into my crazed mind.

"What about him?" I say as I walk towards the soldier, I hear Gale mumble something under his breath as I bend down next to the dead corpse.

My hands start with his pockets from his pants, _'nothing'_ I sigh as I carry on looking through the back of his pants. I soon move to the top of his pockets, "Katniss come on lets go before someone comes back" Gale says as he walks closer to me.

As I am about to say something the sudden movement disorientates me, I am soon grabbed by my shirt and thrown onto the ground. The shot of pain through my back flings me back into reality as the ' _dead'_ soldiers hands begins to rip my coat, I use all my force to push him away.

I hear muffled notices as the ' _dead_ ' soldiers salvia falls on top of my cheek, I try to push him away with my feet as I try to reach for my knife which I realize is not in my pocket but scattered on the floor away from me, ' _shit_ ' I think as I push the soldier back with my hands again. I watch as his jaw snaps in front of me aggressively.

After what feels like hours I feel the soldiers body being pulled away from me, I quickly stand up on my feet and I run up to the knife on my right. I pick it up with my fingers and I turn around just in time to see Gale place his hands on the soldiers head only then making a quick smooth motion which sends the soldier on the floor in seconds.

My eyes widen as I try to catch my breath, ' _he just snapped his neck'_ I think as I try to cool my shock down.

"You okay?"

I nod as I put my knife back into the holder of my pants.

"They turn" he states bluntly.

I turn around in confusion, "Who turns?"

"They turn... look he must've got bitten or his body gave in" he says as he points to the now dead body on the ground.

' _This doesn't make sense, how can they turn into one of those blood thirsty predators when their dead?'_ I question myself.

"Hey do you think this will do?" I hear Gale call out again, I look towards him once more as he throws me a small white plastic bottle.

"There's only a couple but I think it can do for now…it will slow it down, its antibiotics" he says as he walks towards me.

I flip the bottle with my fingers and I read the label just in case, ' _hopefully'_ I think as I slowly make my way through the door, I hear his footsteps behind me.

 **2 Minutes Later...**

I jump down the brick wall as the tablets rattle loudly, I hear Gale drop down and his footsteps get closer to me, I turn my head around towards him, "Thank you" I say as he nods lightly.

We carry on walking on top of the tree roots, _'let's just get those tablets to Prim'_ I think.

Around ten minutes pass and we reach the green gates, I swing them open, we walk through and Gale closes it behind us.

"So did you find anything?" I hear Finnick ask, but I just walk straight past him into the two story building.

I swing the entrance door open without bothering to shut it, I make my way up the stairs in seconds. And before I know it I am at Prims door, I lightly open it and I shut it behind me.

"Hey" I say.

I watch as she sits up on the bed, a huge grin plastering across her paling face. With the purple around her eyes darkening she watches me walk towards her.

I sit on the bed, "so as promised I came back and I have brought these" I say as I take the tablets out of my pocket.

She takes the bottle into her hand and pops the lid open with her fingers, I nod lightly as she swallows one of the tablets.

"Thank you" she says as she sits back in her pillows.

' _I wasn't the only one, Gale and I got it together'_ I think as I steady myself on the bed.

"Gale helped out to so thank him" I say as I look out of the window, I watch as the sun slowly begins to set across the mountains.

"Prim you should get some rest" I say as I stand up to put the covers over her body, she nods a little.

I start walking towards the door, "Hey Katniss?"

"Yeah" I say as I turn my head around towards her.

"Thanks again"

I smile and nod, ' _piece of cake?'_ I think as I walk back out, I shut the door as I make my way down the stairs, I walk through the door and I close it behind me.

My eyes scan the area and I see Gale standing near the barrels once again, I decide to walk to my left towards the trees away from him. I find some dry pieces of wood and I gather some up In my arms and I walk to the far side of the camp and I settle the wood down onto the ground, using my hunting knife I sharpen on end of a stick and I put it down onto a wooden block, I grab some dry tinder and I spin the twig in-between my fingers.

Feeling achieved I watch as the small bundle of wood sets on fire, with a spare twig next to me I poke the fire pit a little, ' _something is missing'_ I think as I walk to my left again, my eyes scan across a big thick log and I soon drag it near the fire pit. With satisfaction filling me up I take a seat on the log as the sky darkens by the second. As my eyes look forward across the bright mixes of red and orange I hear loud footsteps to my right, I look towards the direction of the sound and I see Finnick.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asks softly as he makes his way closer to me.

I nod a little, "Yeah I guess" I sigh a little.

"I'm sorry about Prim" he says as he stands in front of me.

The statement causes my heart to clench as I look away from him, "She'll be okay" I say.

"I was thinking…since you look quite alone maybe this could help you a little" I look up as he takes something from behind his back, the wood shines in the last bits of the suns ray as he passes the guitar to me.

I lightly shake my head as he places it on the log beside me, "oh and that room near Prim is all yours by the way" he says as he walks away. I watch as he fades into his tent and turns off the light.

I look to my left at the wooden instrument, ' _I haven't played this since my dad had died'_ I think as I trace my fingers along it.

I look back up at the beautiful bright orange sunset, ' _maybe there is still this chance of Peeta being out there somewhere_ ' I think as my hope slowly restores inside of me.

' _This is Peeta's favourite colour'_ I think back to when Rue told me near the window. I smile a little at the beautiful but painful memory, ' _at least she is in a better place now'._

The orange mixes with the red which causes the whole scene to look ten times nicer, ' _now I understand why this was Peeta's favourite colour'_ I smile as I automatically grab hold of the guitar on my left. I place in on my right knee as I strum it softly, to my surprise it is actually in tune. I strum a few more notes as I softly begin to sing a song by Andrew Belle, in my veins.

"Nothing goes as planned…"

I cannot help but think how this songs fits my situation perfectly, I also can't help the fact that I do miss Peeta even though I try to disagree with myself, I don't know what he did to me but what I am sure of is that I am definitely not liking it.

I finish on one more strum as I look up at the sky to find it dark with a huge full moon glazing the sky. ' _I'll find you'_ I think to myself, as I slowly close my eyes. I find it quite weird that I do not mind the way I am thinking because I do not think about boys at all but there is just something about Peeta that makes me want to see him, to hug him and to thank him for saving my life.

My thoughts are suddenly interrupted by another sound of footsteps, my head shoots up to my right and I see a dark figure.

"Prim didn't mention that you could sing?" I hear him say.

I roll my eyes as I place the guitar beside me, ' _shit'_ I think.

"Well good because I don't think it's very necessary I say as I pick up the twig beside me to poke the fire.

He takes a step forward and sits down on the log beside me, I move to my left further away from him, "Yes?" I ask.

He looks at me, his eyes reflecting the flames as he breaths out into the cold air causing a huge cloud, "are you not cold?" he asks as he tightens the long black jumper around him.

"Nope I have the fire" I state as I point to it.

He mumbles and ' _oh_ ' and keeps quiet.

' _Maybe he might be a nice guy, maybe I should at least say something and toss off this awkward silence because it is killing me'_.

"Err thank you by the way" I say as I look directly into his dark grey eyes.

He smiles a little and sniffs up, "It's alright"

' _No it's not just alright, I had come to the realization that he had saved my sister and gave her a place to stay'_ I think, I must've been so angry a disoriented that I hadn't even noticed all of this that he had done for me.

"No seriously thank you for saving my sister and with the medicine" I say as the warmth for the fire pit hits me.

"Well… you're welcome I guess, it was mostly my brother Ryan that mentioned Prim but thanks..." he says as he scratches his hand.

"That reminds me you should go see her because she wants to thank you" I utter out as I nod towards the building.

He shakes his head lightly as he smiles, "she already did"

"Oh…"

We sit there for a couple of more minutes staring bluntly at the dancing flames until I hear Gale scoff a little, I look towards him with my eye brow raised as he gets up.

"It's getting cold are you coming in?" he asks as he stands in front of me.

I shake my head a little, "nah I'll stay here a little longer" I say as I poke the fire a little more.

"Alright… you should probably ask Finnick to fix that coat up for you" he points towards my coat, I look down and I notice how the front of my coat is partly ripped.

"Will do"

"Cool… well I guess I'll see you tomorrow" he says as he starts heading back, I give him a small wave as I lean forward.

And once again I am here alone, with my thoughts fighting for my attention. And I can say one thing for sure these thoughts of Peeta are surely winning their battle with me.


	12. The Uncertain Changes

**Authors Note:** **sorry for not posting last week but some problems came up and I had to take care of them. But as I did say I am still uploading every Tuesday, it might change depending if I have time to write it on time. But anyway hopefully you enjoy this chapter and the others that will come.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Hunger Games character or book, all the credit goes to Suzanne Collins**

The slight nudge to the right side of my shoulder jolts me awake. I spring my eyes open only to shut them seconds later. The morning light breaking its way through the gashed curtains, illuminating the oak wooden room which I was settled in. I glance to my right as my irises compose to the bright mess of the sheets. I squint a little as I recognise the bright happy yellow muddled in between the covers. I smile a little as I close my eyes. I had finally found my sister, safe, alive and okay.

' _Wait… no she is not okay'_ I open my eyes wide as I sit up on the bed, tugging the sheets with me uncovering Prim in one swift move. I wince a little as I look back at her small figure. Her chest rising and falling slowly as she casually hitches to catch her breath, causing my heart to crumble at every movement.

I quietly grab the white sheets with my fingers and I slide the cover on top of her, she slowly cocoons herself into it and relaxes on her pillow. ' _She looks so peaceful, so unnerved, and so… happy?_ ' I think as slowly turn and slide of the bed. My bare feet hit the cold sore floor as I quietly tip-toe around the huge bed.

I reach over to Prims side of the bed and I kneel down on the wooden floor in front of her. Her slow breaths blowing through her nose as she clutches her pillow just underneath her fragile head. I stop for a second as I watch her in worry, wondering about how such a small fragile figure like Prim should face such cruelties in this world. My sleepy eyes scan over her lazily, the sudden hitch of breath sends a shiver down my spine as I launch my hand on top of Prims soft chubby cheeks. I trace my thumb along her cheek as I stare at her in panic.

' _Come on Prim don't do this, please- breathe…'_ I beg as I watch her chest rise abruptly as she tries to re-fill her lungs.

After what seemed like hours she slowly relaxes and pushes her head deeper into the pillow, causing a single long strand of blonde to fall on top of her face. I move my right hand towards her face and I gently move the single strand back with my finger behind her ear. The sides of my lips turn down.

"I'm so sorry Prim" I whisper towards her in her deep sleep.

I slightly lean forward and I place a light kiss on top of her forehead, and I stand back up. I scan the floor for my socks and I spot them thrown and abandoned in the corner of the bright room. I walk towards it, the side of my lip turns up slightly, ' _at least the throbbing pain from my thigh has gone'_.

It was as if I had jinxed myself at that moment, I slightly cruckle causing the light throbbing to run back up my thigh. I roll my eyes, not quite as bad as before but nothing that I can't handle.

I pick up my black socks and I slide them on my feet. I look to my left and I see my all too familiar brown leather boots rested near the front of the bed. I slightly limp towards them and I quickly slide them on.

Now ready I walk towards the scratched door, I softly place my hand on the freezing door knob and I take a quick glance back. Smiling a little, I gently turn the door knob to not wake Prim and I walk down the staircase.

The cold air hits me like a punch to the face, but then again if I think about it, it more like a refreshing punch to the face. I take a long deep breath, Prim had caused me so much worry that I had forgotten to stop and breathe. The air was fresh but cold freezing my nostrils as I breathed.

I shut the cold door behind me, causing a long tired echo to run through the lonely woods. A shiver runs through my body, and I tighten the brown leather coat around myself for warmth. ' _It had definitely gotten colder through these past few days'_ I think as I focus my eyes up. I understood why it is getting colder, but I just find it quite weird how fast the temperature has dropped, I'm pretty sure that were not in the winter season yet.

As my eyes scan the camp I notice the dried mud deserted and scattered along the path, followed by a bunch of empty water bottles and ripped old papers. I look to my right and I notice a slim figure hunched over the rusting barrels. A brown bottle resting beside him and one in his hand, I scoff in annoyance, ' _there's literally no end for the old man'_ I think in disbelief as I pad towards him.

I throw my hands into my pockets as I stand behind him, I hear him mutter some incoherent words to himself as he takes another swig of his beer which he quickly spits out as soon as his eyes trace onto me.

"Jesus Christ! Don't sneak up on an old man like that!"

I slightly grin as I watch the liquor hit the ground, "morning to you to" I say as I rest my elbows on top of the rusty brown barrels. He looks at me and huffs a little.

"Up so early, sweetheart?" He asks in disinterest.

I yawn wide, "don't call me that" I scorn as I stretch my arms forward. He raises his brow and gives me that annoying loop-sided grin.

He then shrugs and bends down to pick up another unfortunate bottle of beer, I shake my head, irritated by his obvious movement.

"So who runs this place again?"

He looks at me with those two grey miserable eyes, "Gale" he simply states and drinks up.

I crease my brows a little as he rests on the barrels, "how long?" I push.

"How long what?"

I roll my eyes, "How long have you guys stayed here"

"A couple of days, why?"

I nod my head as I sigh, "Just asking, I mean you guys seem to be pretty laid back around this area"

He chuckles a little nearly choking on his drink, I raise my eyebrow, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing you're just so… serious" he says as he holds his hands up in surrender.

I feel anger gush through my veins as I give him my biggest scowl, ' _did he really just say that?_ ' I think as I tense up a little and tighten my fists.

"Well I mean… If you could for once come back to the real world, instead of drinking that crap all day… I think you'd realise what we're facing here!" I spit my words out in disgust while gesturing towards the bottle lying comfortably in his grey hand.

I watch as his eyes turn a shade darker but then relax seconds later, "listen here you little shit, you don't question me about my little ' _drinking problem'_ " he emphases with his fingers , "and I won't question you about your little love problem with baker boy"

' _What the hell is he on about… little love problem… wait, oh_ ' my eyes widen and I quickly try to mask my emotion with a scowl, ' _Peeta? How does he know about Peeta, does he know where he is?_ ' I think as I take in a deep breath and give him a death glare.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I say as I cross my hands over my chest.

"OH please don't play pissy with me sweetheart" he states as he takes another swig of his beer.

"I don't love anyone" I state as I hear Haymitch chuckle once more, I look towards him in frustration, as he places his drink on the barrel and folds his arms just like mine and faces me.

"Tsk… you keep telling yourself that" he mutters.

I turn to face him as my eye begins to twitch, "and what the hell is that supposed to mean?" I spit out at him.

He creases his very hairy grey brows, "that boy had an eye on you since day one"

' _He has got to be kidding me right?_ ' I shake my head as I drop my hands and lean forward on the barrels.

"Where's Effie?" I ask quickly through gritted teeth, changing the subject.

He stares at me for a second as if to find something, but soon gives up and simply shrugs and grabs hold of his drink again, "Who knows… last time I saw her she was still in the classroom moaning about the dust patch on her shoe" he says as he gestures toward his feet.

I give him a slight nod but cannot help the butterflies had twisted inside my stomach, I inhale sharply the temptation to ask about Peeta rising, but I shut it down almost immediately.

A couple of minutes pass by as I fiddle with the side of the loose metal from the barrel, the tension thick between me and Haymitch.

"Soo… does anybody guard this place?" I ask.

"Gale and Finnick, then you have Betee working with the new technologies of this place" Haymitch states as he looks forward into the dense green forest.

"Hmm" I mumble as I look down.

"How did you find this area anyway?" I ask out of curiosity that causes Haymitch to look my way and grin slightly.

"That… is actually a pretty funny story" he chuckles to himself as he faces me and leans on the barrel, I raise my eye brow at him and I nod a little to encourage him.

"Well basically I was-"

"Morning"

I look to my right to see Gale stand there, his dark brown hair messy with his hands in his pockets, I roll my eyes a little and look toward Haymitch. He on the other hand waves a little, "Oh joy, care to join us on this very beautiful day"

I nod to Gale as he stands beside me and coughs a little, "sleep well?" I hear him mumble.

Ignoring him I look around the area that I am currently stood in, the sudden tug on my coat springs me back into reality, "what?" I blurt out to no one in specific.

I hear another groan from Haymitch as I look towards Gale, his grey eyes boring straight into mine. I take a huge gulp.

"I asked if you slept well." Gale repeats again as he pursed his lips and widened his sleepy grey eyes.

"Umm yeah thanks" I mumble under my breath.

"Good" he smiles a little, ' _why is he so nice all of a sudden?_ ' I think as I move back a little, not trusting him near me.

"Soo… what are you guys doing so earl-"

"Does anyone want breakfast?"

I look to my right and I am met with Prims blue eyes, she grins a little as she leans on one leg and stares in awe at the three of us. She's wearing a light orange jumper and dark skinny jeans.

Without another thought I walk up to her, "did you take your medication?" I ask in concern.

She rolls her pretty blue eyes a little, "I wouldn't really class that as medication but yes I took one tablet" she says as she smiles.

I smile back as she picks my hand up and laces her fingers through mine, her fingers were freezing. She leads me a couple of steps forwards into a small area where Finnick and Annie are sitting on some wooden chairs, near a small brown table. They wave towards me, "hey Katniss, I heard about that coat of yours, no worries Annie will take care of that for you… won't you honey" he bubbles up as he gives Annie a huge sloppy kiss on her forehead.

She smiles widely as she looks back at me, "sure, whatever you need"

I watch as she lightly kisses Finnick back with just as much passion, and he wraps her in a tight side huge giving some space for the baby, "I appreciate it but it's alright" I say as I sit down, Finnick shakes his head, "Absolutely not, getting colder and I highly doubt that a ripped coat will help in that"

I nod a little, ' _he's got a point'_ I think as Prim sits beside me and lifts a white cloth to her mouth. I look at her and I frown a little.

"Prim I said that I don't care… remember" I state as I drag the cloth down from her face but she fights me and lifts it over her mouth again.

"I do"

I sigh lightly, as I train my eyes on the silent brown forest a couple of metres away from us behind the green fence.

"So… are you okay?" I ask her, nudging her shoulder slightly.

She chuckles a little, "yeah it's getting a little cold though"

I smile a little, "yeah, well we are about three months away from winter so that's kind of understandable, here have this" I shrug off my coat and I wrap it around her.

"Aren't you going to be cold?"

I shake my head, "I'll be fine, and from what I've heard you should be in bed anyway" I say as I point towards her bedroom window.

She quickly shakes her head, "no… I just want to- to forget about you know what… and being there by myself is not very healthy, plus I get to spend more time with you"

I smile a little as I rub her shoulder to warm her up.

A couple of minutes pass by as the temperature drops a couple degrees. I observe the area as Prim rests her head on my shoulder.

"I wonder how that bakery is doing" Prim speaks up to nobody in particular.

My body however, shudders at the simple mention of a ' _bakery'._ The image of Peeta's face flashes in front of my eyes almost immediately causing my heart to race and my body to tense. His shining oceanic blue eyes staring fondly into mine as he cups my chin lightly, his hot breath blowing away the small strings of hair in front of my eyes. I take a small gulp as he slowly begins to lean forwards, the sweat from his forehead making its way down his temple, down his shirt.

' _Oh how I wish this was real…_ '

' _Wait, what?_ ' I think as I shake my head in disbelief, ' _what the hell what that all about?'_ I question myself.

"Katniss?"

I look down to my left only to see Prim staring at me in confusion, her hand lifts on top of mine as her eyes furrow in concern.

"Umm… yeah" I choke out.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

' _No of course not, I had just thought of Peeta in a very inappropriate way, and I'm not sure whether I had loved it… or liked it'_ I think as I panic.

"Yeah I'm fine, why" nailed it.

She stares at me for a couple of minutes, "you just kind of zoned out when I mentioned the bakery, do you know someone who worked there or something?" she asks wearily.

I take another huge gulp as I straighten my back, "no, no I didn't even know that there was a bakery" I steady my voice.

She raises her brow at me as if not believing in what I said, and then shrugs, "well there was this boy called Peeta, I mean he was great… used to give me free cupcakes every two weeks" she says as she grins guiltily.

My head turns foggy as I stare at her, ' _she knows him?'_

"So that's where the cupcakes came from" I say through a clenched throat.

She grins a little more and looks down, "yeah…" I watch her as my eyebrow rises.

"I mean I thought that you would've known him, he used to make you the ' _special' cupcake_ " she wiggles her brows a little, which causes a rush of heat to run up my neck, I quickly look down to hide, _'seriously?_ ' I think in disbelief.

"Aww, so you do know him" Prim pushes with a hint of excitement in her voice, I roll my eyes.

She giggles a little bit causing my stomach to turn in joy and embarrassment, ' _at least she is happy, and has sometime to forget about her illness_ ' I think.

"Isn't he just- oh hey Gale"

I look up and see his tall figure slump down across from us, "Hey" he smiles a little and locks eyes with me. I drop my gaze almost immediately.

"So anyway, I heard that he goes to your class, says that your quite hot headed at times which scares him a little" she giggles a little more, as I raise my brow in interest playing along with her, _'anything to make my poor little sister forget'_

"Oh does he now?"

She chuckles a little more, "But he can't stay away from you, I think you have your own admirer Katniss" she says as she giggles a little more, as my blush grows.

' _Girl talk'_ I think. I was never good at it, or never partially enjoyed it, never even thought of getting into a situation where I would have to talk about ' _boys_ '. I roll my eyes a little.

"I…err-"

"Tsk"

We get interrupted by someone's voice, I look forward as I lock eyes with Gale's dark ones, he then proceeds to drink from his water bottle rather forcefully as if to hide his face and then he gets up and walks off towards Haymitch.

' _What the fucks gone up his ass again'_ I think as I scratch the back of my neck, watching him in irritation.

"Well then…" I hear Prim pitch in.

She leans into her pocket and takes out a chocolate bar, she points it towards me, "do you want it?"

I look at it and then back at her, "have you eaten anything?" I ask in concern.

"Of course I have" she answers a little too quickly.

I squint my eyes as I stare at her, ' _she's lying, I can hear it straight through her voice'_ I think as I lean forward a little more.

"Prim…" I warn.

She looks at me with glassy eyes, "yes…" she chirps.

She soon breaks my eye contact and sighs.

"How long" I ask with a shaky voice.

"I…look I'm fine" she states abruptly, but then speaks up when she notices my angry look, "well… like two, three days"

I felt like my whole body set on fire, I was pissed… no furious. She tightens her hands around her body as she looks down, guilty. I push myself of the stupid uncomfortable seat and I begin to make my way forward that's when a small hand clasps my wrist, "Katniss please it's not his fault, please I promise that I'll eat" I look to my left, her cheek bones making an ugly appearance on her pretty face with dark circles around her eyes, degrading her beautiful features. I scoff as I hear Finnick's voice butt in but I ignore it, nothing will not stop me from giving Gale a piece of my own mind.

"Prim, let go" I warn her as she scrunches up her nose.

As soon as she lets go of my hand I start storming towards Gale, his tall figure hunching against the barrels, talking to Haymitch and possibly staring at his stupid map. Haymitch notices me and grins a little, but then his eyes widen a little when he notices how pissed off I look.

Gale must've noticed Haymitch's change in attitude because he twists around, _'bad mistake'_ I think as I take a right swing at his face, my fist connecting perfectly against the side of his nose and cheek, he stumbles back a little covering his nose in shock.

"You fucked up again! You had one fucking job and that you couldn't even manage!" I spit at him while swinging my arms frantically, as I am about to step forward again someone's hands clasp around my shoulders stopping me from moving any further towards Gale.

"What the hell are you on about?" Gale roars at me, his grey eyes flaring in anger. I watch as the blood from his nose drips onto his grey shirt, he swipes his hand across his face, slathering it with his own blood.

I furrow my brows in frustration, "My sister has not been eating for days! That's what I'm fucking on about, you were supposed to take care of her not let her starve!" I shout as I try to fight Finnick's strong arms.

His nose flares as he stares at me, that soon changes when he realises what I had said, "what?" he lowers his voice.

"Ohm you know damn well what! Don't play pissy with me Gale I just saw you move away when Prim took out that chocolate bar! You didn't want anything to do with it!" I almost scream at him.

"That was different…" He scratches his messy hair in frustration as the darkness from his eyes fade and he frowns a deeply, "she's not been eating?" he chokes out.

"Do you want me staple that fact onto your fucking head or something?"

"Katniss…I- I didn't know"

"Bullshit!" I spit out.

"No seriously, Katniss she said that she had been eating" He says as he raises his arms in the air, in surrender.

I struggle out of Finnick's arms as I scowl at him, "It's gotten worse" he mumbles.

"OH you know what-"

"Katniss, stop!"

I turn my head to my right to see Prim, her eyes teared up. Her hunched over figure screaming for sleep, she wipes her eye as she stares at me with wide scared eyes. I take a long deep breath as Finnick lets go of me.

"Look it's my fault, I lied to Gale okay… he had nothing to do with it… just- just stop okay" she says ask she shakes a little.

I scoff a little, "why?"

She looks down "I just…don't feel hungry"

"Prim you have to eat, you're getting worse" I state the obvious fact as I walk up to her.

She nods in guilt as tears begin to run down her cheeks, I wipe her cheek with my thumb as I look at her.

"I- I know"

My heart beats faster and faster as I watch my one and only sister in pain, I wrap her small figure in my arms, "Promise me that you'll never lie like that again" I state sternly.

She pulls away a little and looks up at me, "I promise"

I nod and I give her a last tight hug, "alright, go and eat something Finnick and Annie will be watching you" I say strictly as I look back at Finnick, he smiles sadly and walks up.

"Come on" and with that they both walk off to a very worried Annie which Finnick soon hugs and sits next to.

I turn around on my heels and I storm past Haymitch and Gale making my way towards the entrance of the gate, "I'm going to guard it for now" I simply state.

A couple of slow painful minutes pass by as I stand still, my heart beat slowly slowing down, I watch the woods as the lonely wind whistles past the branches, past my hair. The soft crunch of a twig behind me causes me to spin around and draw my knife.

I watch as he stands there, a simple kitchen knife in his hand and dry dark brown blood slathered on his face, his eyes filled with sadness?

I roll my eyes as I turn back around, "what do you want?" I blurt out.

He walks closer to me, "an apology maybe?"

"Tsk"

He sighs as I hear him step next to me, not to close.

"Where's Prim?"

"She's eating that damn chocolate bar"

"Good..."

"Did you see anything?" he asks as he hides his knife.

"No"

"Good…" he states.

If there was anything more awkward in this world, talking to Gale would be on the top of my list.

We stand there side by side watching the forest and shivering from the bitter cold, I try to focus my eyes forward as I hear Gale sigh loudly next to me. I look his way as I fold my arms over my chest.

"You should clean your face" I speak up.

He looks taken back a little and then touches his nose, "you give pretty nasty punches for such a small woman" he says as he looks forward.

I shrug a little, as he begins step back, "I'll go see how Prim is doing"

I nod his way, but then I quickly turn towards his fully.

"Wait!"

He stops in his tracks and twists his head, "what?"

"Where moving somewhere else" I blurt out, ' _wait… yeah that makes sense'_ I think.

He furrows his brow and scrunches up his nose, the clear irritation showing on his face, "what? Who says that?"

"I do, it's not safe here and were low on food… there's this abandoned prison just a couple of kilometres away from here, sounds crazy but it's got huge walls and no one knows about it" I say.

He raises his brow, "and what makes you think that I'm just going to agree?"

I furrow my brow as I sigh, I walk a little closer to him, "look we got off on the wrong foot but seriously look at this area…" I gesture towards the camp behind him, "it's falling apart, and either way I'm taking Prim to that area… it's much safer"

He raises his brow as he looks behind him, "How do you know that it's safer? There could be gangs, people who will kill us before we even get to the fence"

"I've visited that area a couple of times to see if there's anything that I can scavenge" I say, as he mimics my pose and crosses his strong arms across his chest.

' _I must sound like a complete lunatic right now, but it seems like a much better idea to stay there than here'_ I think.

"And you want to drag Prim all that way in her condition" he asks.

"Yes, she'll know what I mean" I blurt out as he nods.

"We'll think about it, and I don't think that the group will be very happy about that fact either" Gale says as he turns around and walks up to the fence.

 **4 MONTHS LATER…**

I stand outside the electrical fence, my eyes scanning the deserted path in front of me. It was a tough long four months, I almost cannot process how fast everything went. Four months since all of this mess had begun, four months passed by since we had travelled here and four months ago I had found my sister and lost Peeta. I was right all along, the prison didn't have anyone inside, abandoned and hidden away from the societies grasp.

Prim has been getting worse and worse as the time had gone by, her coughs more frequent and her cries heard more often. Gale and I went on a lot of expeditions to find Prim some medicine but we hadn't found much just a couple of half empty bottles hidden in closets and underneath tables. Annie's getting more and more anxious about her baby, with more pain cursing through her body sending Finnick into panic attacks, I always admire the way Finnick takes care of her, I admire the _'love'_ that he shows her every single time she is in pain. Haymitch on the other hand had stayed the same, magically finding booze everywhere he goes, sometimes I get really confused as to where the old man finds it but then again in his desperate manner it's weirdly understandable that he can fetch it from anywhere.

And as to me and Gale, so far where on good terms, he plans since he knows the place better and then we both go on frequent scavenges, trying our luck on finding supplies. I've slowly began to build my trust in him, even if he can be the world's biggest ass-wipe but then again without him we wouldn't be here today.

I get frequent nightmares about losing Prim, and wake up drenched in my own sweat, they never leave, and I have come very familiar with them through these past few months. I actually don't remember the last time I've actually had a good sleep.

The recurring thoughts of Peeta entering my mind over and over again, sending waves of guilt and regret on a daily basis, I have not forgotten about him. I sometimes mention him to Gale and request a search but he just shrugs it off and turns bitter throughout the full day. Sometimes when I go on expeditions with Gale I still get that slight little bit of hope that there is a chance that Peeta had made it, that he is alive, and maybe even thinking the same as me.

"Hey Catnip on my two" I hear Gale whisper interrupting my thoughts, I actually do not quite remember when he started calling me by that name, but what I do remember is giving up on him one day because he kept saying it wrong, so I just left it and I guess it had become official.

I look to my right to find two figures heading my way. They stumble across the grass, groaning as they spot us.

I crouch down as I look at the one on my left, it was a female she had bits of mud and grass muddled up in her hair, her eyes bleeding and her face pale like sheets of snow. Her arms twitching in every direction as she focuses her gaze on me. This was nothing new, I have grown used to killing these walkers. Through the past few months Gale and I have come to the conclusion that the only way to kill them off is by hitting their brain.

I breathe out creating a large white cloud in front of me, the temperature had dropped down rapidly, past these few months. I knew that the winter was going to be bad this year but I was definitely not expecting it to get this cold, I'm just lucky that we didn't have snow ' _yet_ '. But by the huge sheet in the sky, were definitely going to expect it any minute.

I watch as the other snotty figure makes its way towards Gale. He tightens his jaw and makes eye contact with me, I nod to him and I slowly grab my bow and I take out my first arrow, I position it on the string and I pull it back. I look at Gale for the last time before I let the arrow soar through the air straight into the dead man temple, his body collides to the floor and I take out my other arrow not bothering to look at the corpse on the ground.

Before I release the arrow Gale launches up and tackles the female down, she thrashes in his arms, cracking her teeth aggressively inches from his face, I watch as Gale fetches for his knife and slowly sticks it into her head, right between the eyes. I don't like what where doing, and neither does him but it's either them or us, and we have realised that since we decided to team up and fetch for supplies.

I slowly lower my bow as Gale rips out his knife and wipes it on the corpse's jumper.

I furrow my brow as I watch the scene in front of me, it sometimes saddens me that these ' _people_ ' once had families, and that's what type of fate they get, but then again I always feel that ' _luckiness?_ ' that I'm not in their position, I wouldn't be able to handle the fact that I left Prim all alone just like I had before.

I hide my arrow into the holder on my back, when I suddenly get pulled backwards, I yelp as I am hammered to the floor. It all goes dark for a split second and then the light breaks its way through the slit in my eyes. I see it, just like I had four months ago, the bloodshot eyes and ill looking skin. It faces me, those devilish eyes boring straight into my soul, It launches down and tries to bite at my neck cracking its teeth metres away from my flesh, I launch my arms forward and I grip its shirt, pushing it back I see my life flashing in front of my eyes, I'm going to die here, right now and I'm never going to see Prim again because of a stupid mistake.

I raise my feet up and I kick at its stomach giving me time to grab at my knife which is located in the back pocket of my pants. I reach quickly and I lace my fingers around it, without thinking I swing the knife out and I slice at its face. To my surprise it ignores the huge gash on it cheek and carries on snapping at my face. I feel my adrenaline hit its breaking point, my heart beats angrily as I push his body back away from me again. He soon climbs back and launches for my face but instead of meeting my face he meets the tip of my hunting knife. I feel it slide through his brain as he slowly slumps down on my chest.

I take a long deep hitched breath as I look up at the sky, my own sweat gliding down the side of my face, my shirt soaked in blood I feel the weight of the walker getting shoved off me.

"Katniss" I hear Gale call out as he grabs my hand, and pulls me up to my feet.

I stand up and I bend forward a little bit, resting my hands on my thighs, ' _holy shit'_ I think as I stare at the concrete ground.

"I'm alright"

"Are you sure? Are you bit?" He blurts out as he grabs my shoulders and turns my neck and inspects it with concerned eyes.

"No… I'm fine" I repeat again more sternly as I look at him.

"Holy shit I'm Catnip, I didn't see him" he speaks up as he locks eyes with mine.

"Its fine relax"

He looks down at his feet and the back at me, I raise my brow in confusion when I notice that his eyes had turned a shade darker almost in desire? And then he quickly turns around to look at the other body, I sigh as I look down at the body on the floor beside me, ' _well… that was close'_ I thought as I pursed my lips.

The sudden unbalanced movement in front of me, forces my eyes up, I manage to take a last gulp before Gale laces his hand around my neck and presses his lips to mine, I widen my eyes as I slowly process what is happening.

I rip my lips away from his and I push his shoulders away, "Gale what are you?-" I manage to struggle out in confusion before he pushes his lips back on to mine, I stand there with my eyes open wide. The light change in direction causes my eyes to shut, I slowly respond to his kiss as his hand cups my cheek and the other warps around my waist.

This felt odd, so out of place that I had almost felt guilty, this wasn't a soft gentle kiss but rather forced, it scratched my lips and felt so, ' _oh god'_ so wrong. It was not tender from how I last remembered it. It, it wasn't Peeta. The kind baker down the street that baked sweet sugary cupcakes just for me, but a fiery man who had a bad temper problems.

I feel Gales fingers thread through my hair as I feel my heart beat faster and faster, I'm pretty sure that he can feel it and hear it. I think back to when Peeta had kissed me, my ' _first_ ' kiss. The way he tenderly touched my chin as if he didn't want to hurt me, the way his soft lips pressed against mine. ' _This is so wrong'_ I think.

I push away from Gale once more, with a little more power than I had originally intended to use. He tries to find my eyes, his swollen pink lips pursed tightly, "I'm… I'm sorry Gale but I can't" I choke out as I try to sort out my hornets' nest of thoughts.

His eyes look painfully my way as they darken in colour, ' _here we go again'_ I sigh.

"It's him isn't it?"

"Excuse me?" I blurt out taken aback by his answer.

"Little baker boy" He spits out rather aggressively.

I furrow my brow as I stare him down, "he has a name!" I spit out with just as much venom.

He shrugs, "whatever"

"What has he got to do with…this?" I state as I quickly gesture the space between us.

He looks up at me, "you love him don't you! What the hell was I thinking!" he says as he steps forward towards me, and tries to grab my hand.

I take a step back ' _love what love?'_ , "what the hell are you on about, you're the one attacking me with your damn lips here!"

"You just… you just can't let go can you?" he blurts out.

"What are yo-"

"He's dead oka-"I stop him by slapping him hard on the cheek, he stumbles back in surprise.

I wasn't really sure why I had reacted this way or why I am behaving this way from the mention of Peeta but I just don't think it's right to blame everything on him.

"Don't…" I simply state as I warn him with my throbbing hand.

"Fuck me Katniss!"

I watch as he stands up straight and gazes at me with hurtful eyes.

"Is it that serious?" he asks in disbelief.

I huff as I turn around in my spot, I begin walking towards the gate, ' _what the hell just happened…'_ I think as I reach the tall metal gate.

"Catnip? I'm… sorry" I hear his footsteps hurry behind me.

' _Shove that sorry up your ass'_ I think as I flip him off as I walk up to the gate, slamming it behind me I look around and my eyes stop on a very distressed looking Haymitch, I roll my eyes as he stumbles towards me. He stops a couple of centimetres away from me.

"What do you want?" I blurt out as I look around the beat up prison.

"It's…its"

"It's what?" I push.

He takes a deep breath, "its Annie she's in labour"


	13. The Cruise

**My dear sincere apologies for abandoning this story like that, but I did have exams to do so I dedicated my time to that but now I'm free from it so I can finally come back to what I like doing most, which is indeed writing. I'm not really sure when I'll update the next chapter but here you finally have chapter (12- The Cruise) of course thank you for the support, and I'll be sure to carry on with this story so no worries guys. Thank you again, enjoy** **.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Hunger Games character or book, all the credit goes to Suzanne Collins**

I watch from a distance as Finnick cradles his little boy in his strong, broad loving arms.

Seeing him making his way towards me, I scratch my arms as I look up. He grins towards me and then back down at his son.

"You should name him you know" I say as he chuckles a little and rests is forehead on his boy's head.

"Something tells me that it's not the time yet"

I raise my brow, "Annie and I have to think of one… I guess it's going to have be little Finnick Junior for now"

I smile a little as he looks at me, his eyes bubbling happily as he takes a seat beside me, I look down at the bundle of sheets and I see a snip of bright ginger curls, I grin more as a look at him.

"do you want to hold him?"

My eyes widen, as I'm taken a-back by his question.

"I don't think that's a very good idea-"

"Oh, come on"

He blurts out and places the light bundle in my arms, looking down I lock eyes with him, his giant emerald green eyes peering into mine. The sides of my lips rise as I remember when Prim was born and how she giggled in my father's arms as he tickled her sides. I remember that bright bubbly contagious laugh that she had given off that filled me with butterflies; the sharp beautiful cries that woke up the whole family in the middle of the night. I truly miss it, now as I think about it.

I pause for a moment as my eyes scan over his fragile head, ' _how weird it is for a baby to have such thick hair?'_

"hey, you okay Katniss?"

Trailing my eyes up I smile towards Finnick, "he's beautiful"

He grins wildly as I place Junior into his arms. I pin my eyes forward and focus on the light breeze which sways the colourful leaves lightly in the distance.

"hey, Annie is feeling okay right now"

Looking to my right I see Prim leaning on her left foot, her mouth covered with a white mask, wiping some sweat of her forehead.

As much as I had tried to tell Prim that I do not care about her not wearing a mask, her stubborn self wouldn't listen and has worn it since. It breaks my heart to see her like this, for her to think that she is some contagious freak.

I nod lightly as I look back at Finnick, he breathes out in relief and hugs Junior a little closer to his broad chest. I look back at Prim as she watches in awe and gives us a lopsided grin.

The bench creaks a little as Finnick stands and walks up to Prim, "Thank you" he says sincerely and gives her a light peck on her forehead.

"You wouldn't mind holding Junior for a while?"

Prims grin only grows wider as the white bundle of sheets is placed into her arms. I give prim an encouraging smile as her eyes dart towards me.

Finnick turns around to face me and holds out his hand. I take it. Pulling me off the seat we walk into the building where Annie lies. Walking through the doors and walking one flight of stairs we enter her room, she lies on a bed filled with white blankets and pillows. The door creaks a little causing her to look up, she gives us a lazy smile, as soon as she realises who it is.

"Hey" she croaks.

Finnick gives me a side hug and sits on the left side of Annie's bed, he raises his hand towards her hair and pushes the wet strands behind her ear.

"Hey, wifey"

She chuckles a little, "Future wifey"

I smile at her remark and step back a little to lean against the wooden cabinet behind me, I look up again to see Annie's eyes lock onto mine, she frowns a little as she stares at me.

"Oh, come here" she simply states.

I take a step forward towards her bed and sit on the edge, she sits up and reaches out her hand, taking mine, she gives me a toothy grin. I smile back. Through these past few months the Odair's and I have grown quite close with each other, we help each other out a lot and watch each other's backs. They help a lot with Prim and I couldn't be more thankful. I always wondered how they have accepted me with such warmth and kindness, through my bitter and harsh attitude. Sometimes when I sit in my room I always wonder how much Finnick and Annie remind me of my parents, the love and passion from my father to my mother was unbreakable, just like with Annie and Finnick. and that just makes me love them more.

' _love them?'_ I widen my eyes a little, _'I guess all of this affection is really taking a toll on me'_

"Isn't he just gorgeous-"

I hear Annie blurt out towards me, I manage to nod as Finnick leans down capturing her lips. My brain starts to race back to what happened between me and Gale today, I honestly thought that I'd always managed to fuck things up, how incredibly wrong was I? I still can't wrap my head around it.

I lift myself of the bed winning a few confused looks. I mouth out the word ' _Prim'_ and they nod enthusiastically. Giving them, one last light wave I walk out the door. Walking down the stairs I open the front door. Freezing air knocks me in the face as I look to my left and notice that Prim had started a small fire. walking towards her I clutch my jacket higher around my neck.

' _the temperature is definitely dropping'_

I take a seat beside her and wrap my arm around her shoulders, she leans her body onto mine.

"Don't you find it a little weird that his hair is so thick?"

I chuckle a little as I kiss her head.

"I wonder what they're going to name him?" she asks after a couple of seconds.

"yeah me too Prim" I say as I look down at the bright orange thick curls.

A couple of silent minutes pass with just the noises of wild animals in the woods as our company. Birds singing their songs and the light wind whistling through the lonesome trees.

"I'm scared" I hear Prim blurt out,

"Of what?"

"for them" Prim states as she nods her head towards the building.

I sigh a little, "Prim their going to be okay, were all in together remember?"

"I know, but now with this baby it's going to be harder for them"

I nod as I look at the old building in front of us and then back at Prim.

"I'm sure that it's going to be hard but with all of us here we will protect, nobody will get hurt I can promise you that" I state as I rub my hand up and down her arm to keep her warm, she nods lightly and sighs.

"it's getting quite cold out go get some rest" I say as she leans away from me. "you deserve it after today" I state as she fixes her tired blue eyes onto mine, the dark circles clearly showing the lack of sleep and fatigue.

"Alright" she says as she rises.

I raise my brow in confusion, _'just like that, no fight'_ I think as she looks back at me.

She leans forward and places Junior into my hands while yawning loudly.

"you really did do a great job today Prim you know that right, I'm so proud of you, mother would be so proud too" I say

She nods lightly, "and dad…"

"yes, yes him too" I smile sadly towards her as she spins around and heads towards the door, tiredly slumping as she walks.

' _medical school did really help her I guess'_ I think to myself.

The slight gurgle focuses my eyes down, I use a piece of my jacket to wipe Juniors mouth, he giggles loudly causing my heart to clench a little, ' _I_ _remember that laugh'_. lifting him up in my arms, I touch my nose to his and I shake my head a little causing him to giggle louder, I laugh with him as I sit him back down again, I move my arm under his fragile head to support it and move the other hand onto his small stomach, his tiny hand reaches forward and grabs my middle finger, I grin as I look down at it. My chest filling up with warmth.

The thought of ever having kids, a family should I say has always stayed distant in my head, the thought just never really came across my mind, but when it did I always pushed it away. I don't imagine having a family one day because I simply never want kids, especially bringing them up in this world filled with cruelty, anger and greed. It would be so risky ' _Ohh_ ' so dangerous, I could not imagine raising my own kids only for them to fight for survival.

I focus my eyes on his wide grin, ' _Ohh if you only knew'_ I think as I caress his hair with my thumb, his thick ginger locks soft and gentle.

' _How does he have so much hair?_ ' I chuckle questioning myself again, I understand babies having hair but so much? ' _He's a special one'_ I think as I beam his way. his big emerald eyes boring into mine, he has so much to see, so much to learn and so much to discover. And I'm going to make sure that he gets to do all of that.

His lips slowly start to turn upside down into a slight frown so I lift him up in the air again causing the blanket that was wrapped around him to fall a little, I lift his shirt slightly only then to begin blowing raspberries on his small tummy, he starts giggling as soon as the ' _farting'_ noise happens, causing me to giggle loudly with him, so much that my eyes start tearing up.

I remember when my father used to blow raspberries on Prim's tummy every single night he came back from work, I found it so weirdly funny that I began doing them myself and I had loved them since.

"For someone who is grumpy all day every day, you seem quite adoring"

I pull my face away from Juniors tummy and I dart my eyes to the left, only to find Haymitch standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and a grin plastered on his face. I slowly place Junior back down onto my lap and wrap the blanket tighter around him.

"He was going to cry so- what do you want anyway?" I ask displeased by his presence.

"Ohh of course… anyway sweetheart, Beetee and I have a job for you so come by in a couple of minutes, once you're done with being all cute" he grins wider as he meets my eyes.

I huff a little, "alright"

"I'll be by the table on the right near the big field"

"okay"

He gives me a small nod and starts walking to his designated area, I stand up from the bench and I start walking toward the big building on my right also known as the ' _Prison'_. As I get to the door I push Junior higher up my left arm and with my other free hand I open the squeaky door.

' _Do people ever oil doors?'_ I question in annoyance.

I make my way towards Annie and Finnck's room, I slightly knock and I hear a bubbly _'come in'_ from Finnick. I open the door and I shut it lightly behind me.

"Ahh there's the star of the day!" I hear Finnick almost squeak in amusement, I smile as I place Junior into his arms.

"Hello there little fella" He squeals a little as he kisses Juniors head.

"Honey, we have to give him a name" Annie says as she sits up.

"Yeah we will do at the right time sweet heart… it's just Finnick Junior for now" he chuckles a little as he sits back down on Annie's bed.

"Hey Katniss-?" Annie perks up looking up at me while threading her fingers through Finnick's hair.

"Thanks Katniss for taking care of him"

"Anytime Annie" I say as I make my way towards the door.

"where are you going?" I look back to a very confused Annie.

"Haymitch says that he has another job for me, so I got to go check that out but I'll come back to see you guys"

"Do you want me to come with you?" Finnick blurts out as his brow creases a little.

I almost burst out in laughter, "no you stay with your family"

"Are you sure?"

"One hundred and one percent Fin" I say as I twist the door knob.

"alright well be safe out there, okay?" Annie says as she flattens out her blanket and Finnick places Junior onto her legs.

"Aren't I always" I say as I step out the door.

I begin walking through the long corridor and down the stairs filled with all kinds of graffiti until I reach the big metal door. Pushing it open I step outside, ' _Holy shit its freezing'_.

I hear metal being scraped along the concrete which drags my attention to the left, my heart drops right down to my gut as I see no one other than Gale, his hands in his pockets he keeps his head focused down on the metal can that he is kicking. I move my leg forward slowly so that he would not hear me but instead of stepping on ' _Just'_ concrete I stepped on bits of broken glass. I quickly glance to my left only to find him staring at me, ' _Fuck'_ I curse underneath my breath.

Without thinking I step to my right and I start walking towards Haymitch and Beetee. I spot them leaning on the wooden table gesturing to what looks like a map. I quickly pick up in speed until I am completely beside them.

"Oh joy, how nice of you to join us" Haymitch smiles as he moves his liquor away from me a little. I sigh and look towards Beetee. He waves a little, "Hey Katniss"

I nod a little and look down at the map, "so what is this job?"

"Ahh its good that your so eager- "

"Yeah I want to know too" I look behind my shoulder to find Gale walking up to us.

I roll my eyes as my blood starts to boil a little, ' _Ohh great'_ I think as I clench my jaw a little.

"What the hell is he doing here?" I ask no one specific so that he can hear me loud and clear.

"Well sweetheart we can't just let you go by yourself" Haymitch slurs.

I huff loudly and watch as the light, bright, cloud of smoke flies up into the sky, in front of me; stating that the temperature is dropping faster by the minute.

"It's just a job so please do us a favour and sort out your ' _problems'_ elsewhere" Haymitch gestures behind his shoulder and places his hands on the table.

I shake my head in annoyance and I face Beetee.

"alright, so we have found this church" he says as he points to the small box on the map, "it's about 2 good kilometres away from here"

"right, so were looking for supplies in a church?" I ask.

"yes… these churches have quite a lot of treasures hidden inside them"

I hear Haymitch chuckle beside me, "What are you some sort of Catholic, now?"

"Believe it or not I used to be"

"Right" I state to speed up this conversation.

"So, we head out tomorrow?" Gale asks.

"No, no quite… I was thinking today" Beetee says.

I crease my brow as my own confusion hits me, "but it's getting dark"

"exactly, meaning that people will get tired and their guard will fall, you'll make it back by nightfall, you'll be okay we just need more supplies for the baby and for the rest of the group"

"Is there a plan B?"

Beetee looks at me in confusion.

"You know if things get bad?"

"You come back, no further questions asked, we checked the road it's all clear, just a long walk"

I shake my head a little and scratch my arm, "alright… I'll be on my way then"

"Thank you" Beetee says as he folds up the map and hands it to me.

I grab it and slide it down into my jean pocket.

I begin to turn around when Beetee's voice pipes up again, "Hey Katniss you'll need this"

I turn to see my bow with a stack of arrows beside it and two other objects beside it, he picks them up, "I sharpened up your arrows and I made a few amendments to your knifes, look you click this button" his thumb slides over the black button on the left side of the knife and he pushes it down on it. The tip of the knife pops open, "and since I had quite… a lot of time, when you press the bottom of the knife this green poison pours down the blade so when it hits its victim, the poison almost works as an acid… let's just say it's not pretty" he closes it back up and passes it over to me.

"Thanks"

"No problem, just come back in one piece alright" he speaks up as I lean forward to grab my bow and arrows. I sling it over my shoulder and I give Beetee and Haymitch one firmer nod before spinning around in my place and heading for the gate.

As I trek towards it I hear more footsteps behind me, ' _How could I forget'_ I think as I roll my eyes and speed up a little. Reaching the gate, I slide It open and walk further out, I hear the gate shut behind me and I take out the folded-out map, tracing my eyes along the highlighted road I carry on walking.

A couple of minutes pass by as the silence between us two grows thick, I could probably slice a knife through it if I really wanted to. I shake my head a little as I focus on the deserted road I front of us.

"Hey Catnip" I hear Gale call out, I lift up my hand and I rest it on my neck and I try to steady my eyes forward, my throat becoming drier by the second, I decide to speed up a little more.

I hear him sigh behind me which makes me smile a in achievement. That soon changes when I get spun around in one place.

"Not now Gale" I warn.

"Look, is this to do with what happened last night?" he stares at me, this is the first time we have made eye contact since yesterday.

I spin around again and I carry on walking forward, I hear Gale's feet quickly pick up in speed and he soon stands in front of me, "Piss off Gale" I growl.

"No"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Then what the hell do you expect me to do, fly back into your arms and play kissy games with you!" I shout as I push past him, 'I ain't got time for this shit'

"No of course not… look I apologised okay? Could you at least talk to me like a normal human being"?

"I just want to get this crap over and done with okay?" I say as I wave him off and focus my eyes forward, anywhere but him.

"right" he mumbles and walks beside me.

Around 30 minutes of complete silence pass by as the sky turns darker, I reach over to my bow and I hold it beside me. The sudden movement in a bush a couple of metres in front of us forces us to stop, ' _Instinct I guess'_ I think to myself as I prepare the bow.

I pull the string back and I wait for ' _It'_ to come out, relief soon hits me when I see a small white rabbit hop out of the bush, I lower the bow and breathe out a little. I hear Gale swallow loudly behind me which causes me turn around and give him a cold stare. Anything that he currently does pisses me right off, that includes his loud breathing…

"Could you like shut the fuck up, you're going to get us killed with that breathing of yours" I whispered in anger as I faced him for a split second.

He frowns a little, "sorry" he mutters.

' _Hunter, my ass'_ I think as carry on trekking forward towards the gate in front of us, 'this must be the place' I think as I swing the bow back onto my shoulders, I step forward and I begin to climb it causing a pretty noisy thrash as I get to the top, I squint my eyes as I get down on the other size. Gale soon noisily follows and we walk up to the church door.

Gale gives me an approving nod that's its clear and I slowly open the door to find it closed, ' _Dammit'_ I think as I move back and look behind the building, to my right I spot a small window on the side and I begin walking towards it. I swing it open, ' _Thank god'_ I think as I climb through it, I'm pretty sure that Gale can fit through it to. I plonk down on the wooden floor as Gale shuts the window. I look around the small room, a white table on my left and a couple of red cabinets in front of me, nothing special.

I walk towards the table on my left as gale goes for the cabinets. I begin searching through the drawers only to find a couple of old papers with a bunch of names written on them.

"Jackpot" I hear Gale shout out. Causing a small echo to trail the church.

I turn his way and I notice that his face has brightened up like five colours in the space of a second, his eyes focused on the opened cabinet.

"What?" I ask.

"Clothes and canned food, I think someone lived here but left in quite a hurry or had gotten rushed out"

"Well then we better not waste any more time then" I say as I walk up to the cabinet, while Gale starts packing up the clothes that are needed.

10 MINUTES LATER

"Alright I think that's enough" I say as I pack up the last silver can.

"What about there" Gale says as he gestures towards the door.

"no need"

"There may be some good stuff in there"

I sigh a little and walk up to the door, "alright"

I open it slowly, the squeak causing a loud echo which had bounce off the whole wide area. I look left and right and find the whole place empty, ' _Right'_ I walk back out into the open area and I wave to back to Gale.

We make our way up to the altar and start looking through the drawers. I manage to pick up some useful objects such as matches and metal screws. I make my way down the small red stair case and I notice that the carpet had been lifted a little to my left. curiosity hitting me like a brick wall, I make my way forward and I crouch down in front of the carpet. Lifting it up with my fingers I find a trap door, raising my brows a little I lift the wooden door up.

My eyes widen when my eyes scan over a bight shiny object, ' _Why would they keep a revolver in here?_ ' I think as I lift it up in my hands and inspect it.

"found anything?" I hear Gale shout.

Ignoring him I look down into the hole again and see an ammo box and some canned food

"Hey Catnip, what's that?"

I hear his footsteps coming closer to me as I show him the silver object, his forehead creases a little as he kneels beside me and grabs the gun, "I've always wanted to hold one of these… where did you find it"

I point to the trap door and his eyes trail down, "I don't think we should stay here, they may come back" I say as I begin to stand up, his hand wraps around my wrist.

"Let's just get this at least" he says as he lets go of my wrist and looks up at me.

I sigh loudly and bend down on my knees, I zip open my bag again and start grabbing the remaining cans as Gale does the same.

"Hey Catnip…?"

' _Ohh here we go'_ I think as I gulp.

"Yeah…"

"About yesterday…"

"Gale-"

"No Katniss I need to tell you"

I shake my head a little as I pack some more canned food, my heart beating out of my chest I try to keep my head down. I feel a slight shuffle to my right and feel Gale's fingers trace my chin. He moves my head in is direction so that I'm looking directly at him.

"Look at me"

I roll my eyes a little, his grey eyes boring straight into mine, with a hint of nervousness.

"What do you want?" I ask rather loudly.

"Look I'm sorry okay, I just wanted to know"

"Know what?" I push.

"What it's like, what it feels like to be that way with you, I had to do it at least once"

"Ohh" I manage to mumble as I look down, darting my eyes away from him.

"why didn't you tell me before? "

He chuckles nervously, "Well it's kind of a weird story actually, it's because- "

The sudden loud thump behind us, caused me to jump. I look towards Gale in panic as he tenses his jaw and his eyes focus on the entrance behind me. I see him reach down for the revolver as his eyes darken a little. He points the gun towards the door and nods for me to move behind the brown bench in front of me, I nod back as he stands up.

"Drop your gun!" I hear a voice pipe up, echoing all around the church, bouncing off the walls around us. I scan my eyes all over the church and I don't seem to notice anyone.

I hear the soft click as Gale slowly presses the hammer down from the revolver.

"I wouldn't do that" the voice echoes again.

That's when the door bursts open and a bunch of people hurry in with guns at their sides, I see Gale's face tense as he points the gun at them, ' _Shit, Shit, Shit'_

"Oh, you're not going to shoot me, are you?"

Gale ignores the question and keeps his eyes focused on them, the gun pointing forward.

"Put the gun down"

Gale shakes his head.

I hear a bunch of metals clink together, ' _Oh shit'_

The realisation in Gales face is clear as he slowly puts the gun down on the ground and then stands still.

"Now kick it here"

Gale obeys, and kicks the revolver over.

"Good… now the girl?"

"What girl?" Gale blurts out.

I hear the man laugh, sending a huge venomous crackle echoing around the church, sending shivers down my spine.

"Now don't be stupid boy" the man speaks up, I hear a metal clang which causes my heart to rush.

' _He's going to shoot him'_ I think in panic

I nod towards Gale and stand up with my hands in the air

"Ahh there we go, just what we were looking for" the man laughs a little more and walks up to me. He moves his hand out towards my face but then gets stopped seconds later by Gales arm.

"Don't. Touch. Her…"

He chuckles again as he escapes his grasp, "you are a very, very risky boy" he says as he pats down his brown coat.

"And that quite frankly does not work well with me"

I manage to catch his nod as the other man beside me, grabs hold of his metal bat tighter and swings it directly into Gale's stomach causing him to buckle down on his knees. The impact caused me to turn swiftly to my left in the man's direction, colliding my fist against his cheek, sending him back in surprise.

In agitation, I look to my left and launch my hands onto gale's back.

That's when I feel another set of hands wrap around my waist, thrusting me back up, before I know it I'm knocked down to the floor again, pain shoots through my right cheek.

"We've found a feisty one, gentlemen!"

As I lie on the floor I can't help but think about Prim, how I must make it back home, she needs me just as much as I need her, I can't just leave again I have promised to come back?

As more possibilities gush into my head, I hear a loud thud and soon enough my lights get knocked out too.

The agonising scream tears through my eardrums as I focus back into reality, I scan the area that I'm in only to be met by a faint light from the moon illuminating the air around me. Trees, trees are all I'm seeing, then I hear it again that loud painful scream only coming from one direction and only one person.

"Gale!"

The slight movement in my wrists sending an unearthly amount of pain, which makes my eyes shut in discomfort. I trial my eyes around my back just enough to see a rope circulated around my wrists

' _What the fuck?'_

"Princess woke up"

I dart my eyes up to my right to see the man that had hit gale from before, I grit my teeth in anger as he places his hand on Gale's head and twists it so that he is facing me.

I squint in pain as I see gales swollen face, blood pouring from is lips and one eye too bruised to open.

"what you don't like it, I think he looks quite handsome?"

I look away for a second, and jerk my hands, causing warm liquid to run down my wrist, I feel the rope cutting into my skin as I look back at him with disgust.

"Why are you doing this?" I manage to choke as I watch Gale's limp body kneel before this man who's features I cannot see.

"Oh, were only just getting started darling" he laughs as he lifts Gale's bleeding chin and hammers in down with his fist.

Tears start flooding my eyes as I launch forward screaming Gale's name, ripping my vocal cords at once. I start tearing through the ropes around my wrists and finally manage to break it. I free my hands and hurl myself at the man to my right, only to get knocked over and hit repeatedly with a metal bat, my stomach starts to feel immune to the pain as I hear Gale scream my name.

The sudden gunshot alerts me back into reality as I hear a loud thud beside me, my eyes try to focus to my right but all I notice is red, red more like bloody red.

One of the men lies on the floor with a bullet through his head, my body starts to feel numb as I try to pinpoint my eyes in front of me. I see black figures, about five, all holding shiny objects in their hands.

"One more move and I'll put another one through your friend's skull!" I faintly hear a woman shout.

"Oh, you came for some action too, come on do it!" I hear someone shout.

My hand slowly rises to my stomach as I roll over and begin crawling over to gale, who's swimming in his own pile of blood. My breathing grows louder and louder as I crawl my way towards him, little bits of rubble digging into my pounding stomach. I squeeze my eyes shut in pain and crawl faster.

"Oh, shut the fuck up Brutus, we had warned you once and now you're doing it again!"

"they were stealing my food Jo!"

"I could give less of a shit, stop this crap"

I hear the woman roar back as the figures behind her start surrounding all of us, one of them standing out the most because of something shiny in replacement of their real leg, ' _artificial I'm guessing'_

"you know what I can't be arsed with this crap!"

I dart my eyes just in time to see her pull the trigger, knocking the man above Gale to his feet, panic rushes through my body as I grab hold of gales limp arm, _'Shit, Shit, Shit'_

"never liked that guy anyway" I hear her speak up again.

Looking up I see faint smoke coming from her weapon as he hides it in her holster. I couldn't see the face as I have come to the realisation that they all had masks on but she looked quite built for a small woman, as to the others, they were all men from what I could see in this light.

"Right let's go my jobs done here" she says and she sighs and turns around.

"What about them?" one of the guys speak up, pointing towards us.

She turns around and shrugs, "Leave them"

He nods as the rest of the men follow her out of the church, except one, the one with the artificial leg, he just stands there staring bluntly at me from what I can see through his mask, we're quite a distance away so it's just as hard for me to see as it is for him.

"Hey! Lovejack move it" his head jerks away from me, and he turns around in a scurry, he starts limping his way out, the movement almost becoming too familiar in my mind, as if I had seen it before. And I can't help but think about how some of his blonde locks were sticking out from is mask… or maybe it was my head playing tricks on me, I wouldn't be surprised I'm ruined anyway.

"Lovejack?" I repeat as the pounding pain sets in.

I hear a loud groan beside me that scurries my thoughts away.

"Gale, let's get you home alright?"

"Grab- grab the small bag" he slowly chokes out.

I nod and look to my left. Using all my power through my feet I stand and stumble to the bag, throwing it over my shoulder I trigger a bigger throbbing pain which causes me to limp a little.

I slowly walk over to gale and grab his purple bruised wrist earning me a huge moan.

"I'm sorry Gale" I choke out as the lump in my throat grows and tears fill my eyes once again.

I shake my head and throw his arm over my shoulder.

"come on, let's go home"


End file.
